Drawing on rigorous foreign, both Western and non-Western, literature, this thesis introduces sexuality and its connected spatial conceptualizations to Czech geography. In the beginning of the theoretical part, I discuss the framework under which geography studies sexuality. Then, I discuss the crucial terminology while pointing out at some changes in it. After understanding some of the major terminological issues, I delve into a description of the multiple and diverse development of sexuality related geographies. Focusing on queer geography, I delineate the queer standpoint and concentrate on understanding the spatial construction of sexuality in space while unveiling the heteronormativity of space. Using the queer approach, I implicitly deconstruct the binary of public and private space by pointing out at its spuriousness regarding the sexuality. I present a queer bar as a typical queer space while revealing the sexual closetedness of LGBTIQ people. Then I introduce the school environment as, for the time being, a typical heteronormative space and institution. In the end of the theoretical part, I discuss the queer practices of destabilizing heteronormativity both at school and in public space. In the empirical part of the thesis, I discuss the methodology of my internet based chain-referral...

本論文藉由艾德蒙．懷特<已婚男人>愛滋書寫裡、對男同志性愛/死亡在愛滋年代的辨證關係，探討愛滋文學所能扮演的文化功能。第二章、利用傅柯式圓形監獄概念衍生下主體自我內化規訓，討論男同志性愛原先具有的顛覆本質，如何隨著80年代、HIV病毒出現，在生物醫學論述下對男同志進行”再次病理化”的辨證關係。 第三章參考喬瑟夫．凱迪在1993年發表的文章、 分類愛滋書寫為深刻書寫和反深刻書寫，討論<已婚男人>裡愛滋深刻書寫裡、藉由呈現詭異疾病身體來製造驚嚇感、引發讀者對於愛滋議題另一層次的反思。第四章、則是探討<已婚男人>呈現無病徵的衣櫃身體、其造成主體／客體在視覺上/心理上、介於有病/無病的模糊詭譎狀態，可以被視為愛滋文學、一種提供讀者在愛滋年代裡、在絕望中仍可懷抱希望的正面力量。透過以上探討、艾德蒙．懷特＜已婚男人＞豎立愛滋書寫之中、呈現男同志文化與愛滋病複雜關係的傑出作品。 / This study discusses Edmund White’s AIDS writing in his The Married Man, a fiction that depicts the issue of gay sex and death in the age of the Epidemic. In chapter two, I intend to discuss about how biomedical discourse of HIV/AIDS fosters a Focauldian apparatus of panoptical surveillance and self-discipline in relation to gay sex. With the advent of HIV virus, the once subversive lifestyle of gay sex becomes more problematic. In chapter three, I attempt to employ Joseph Cady’s definition of AIDS writings as either immersive or counter-immersive, and argue that Edmund White’s The Married Man should be viewed as an immersive AIDS writing wherein the ugliness of the grotesque body is used as a literary weapon to engender its readers a sense of shock. In chapter four, I contend Austin’s HIV asymptomatic/closet body in The Married Man should be viewed as an ambiguous symbol by which a dialect between hope (future) and despair (no future) is discussed. To conclude, Edmund White’s The Married Man, a subversive text as it is, thus stands as a masterpiece of AIDS writing not only explicitly depicts the history of HIV/AIDS of the 1990s but that promises its gay readers a potentiality of hope for the misty future.

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In 'Political Atheism vs. The Divine Right of Kings,' I build on Thompson and Scrivener’s work analysing John Thelwall’s play 'The Fairy of the Lake' as a political allegory, arguing all religious symbolism in 'FL' to advance the traditionally Revolutionary thesis that “the King is not a God.” My first chapter contextualises Thelwall’s revival of 17th century radicalism during the French Revolution and its failure. My second chapter examines how Thelwall’s use of fire as a symbol discrediting the Saxons’ pagan notion of divine monarchy, also emphasises the idolatrous apotheosis of King Arthur. My third chapter deconstructs the Fairy of the Lake’s water and characterisation, and concludes her sole purpose to be to justify a Revolution beyond moral reproach. My fourth chapter traces how beer satirises Communion wine, among both pagans and Christians, in order to undermine any religion that could reinforce either divinity or the Divine Right of Kings. / A close reading of an all-but-forgotten Arthurian play as an allegory against the Divine Right of Kings.

Hierdie proefskrif bied ʼn nie-empiriese ondersoek en ʼn konseptuele analise van die verhouding tussen ruimte en identiteit in Eben Venter (1954-) se oeuvre binne die konteks van ballingskapliteratuur die postkoloniale diskoers. Die manifestasie van die ruimte- identiteitdialektiek, soos wat dit uitgebeeld word in Venter se skryfkuns, word beskryf aan die hand van postkoloniale teorieë en insigte wat verband hou met aspekte soos ruimte, plek, ballingskap, diaspora, ruimtelike verplasing, seksuele migrasie, intra-nasionale migrasie, internasionale migrasie, empiriese en kulturele landskappe, identiteit as sosio-kulturele konstruksie en Suid-Afrikaanse outobiografieë. Vir die doel van hierdie ondersoek is die volgende vertellings geselekteer: Ek stamel ek sterwe (1996), Twaalf (2000), Horrelpoot(2006) en Brouhaha (2010). In ʼn tydsgewrig van grootskaalse migrasie, globale onsekerheid, transnasionale kapitalisme en radikale dekolonisering in die vorm van geweldsmisdaad, gewelddadige betogings by universiteite, plaasmoorde, grondhervorming, haatspraak, arbeidsonrus, xenofobie en die aftakeling van minderheidsregte, sny Venter in sy verhale en outobiografie ʼn verskeidenheid van kwessies aan. Dit sluit in: die naweë van apartheid, die Afrikaner-diaspora, grondeienaarskap, die ideologiese toeëiening van grond, rassisme, homofobie, queer-migrasie, die haalbaarheid van ʼn inklusiewe Afrika-identiteit en die veranderde rol, plek en identiteit van Afrikaners sedert 1994. Die outobiografiese inslag van Venter se skryfkuns is opvallend en word bespreek deur te verwys na die verhouding tussen fiksionele en reële ruimtes en na outobiografie as hibridiese genre en kreatiewe projek. Hierdie studie bied ook ʼn krities-analitiese besinning van Venter se bemoeienis met skryftemas soos selfopgelegde ballingskap, die vervreemding tussen plek en self, globale plekloosheid en “exile as a discontinous state of being” (Said 2000: 177). Een van die belangrikste insigte wat Venter in sy skryfkuns demonstreer, is dat ruimte, soos identiteit, nie ʼn essensialistiese konsep is nie, maar ’n onvoltooide en vloeibare konstruksie wat voortdurend verander na gelang van sosio-politieke ingrepe, internasionale migrasiepatrone en die individu se subjektiewe gewaarwording van plekke, / This dissertation presents a non-empirical and a conceptual analysis of the relationship between space and identity in the works of prose of Eben Venter (1954) within the context of the postcolonial discourse and exile literature. The manifestation of the space-identity dialectic, as portrayed in Venter’s writing, is described on the basis of postcolonial theories and insights related to terms and concepts like space, place, exile, diaspora, spatial displacement, sexual migration, intra-national migration, international migration, empirical and cultural landscapes and identity as a social-cultural construction. For the purpose of this study the following narratives were selected: Ek stamel ek sterwe (1996), Twaalf (2000), Horrelpoot en Brouhaha (2010). At a juncture of mass migration, global uncertainty, transnational capitalism and radical decolonization in the form of violent crime, violent protests at universities, hate speech, farm murders, land reform, labour unrest, xenophobia and the dismantling of minority rights, Venter addresses an assortment of social issues. This include: the aftermath of apartheid, the Afrikaner-diaspora, landownership, the ideological appropriation of land, racism, homophobia, queer-migration, the viability of an inclusive African-identity and the altered role, place and identity of Afrikaners since 1994. The autobiographical element is evident in Venter’s writing and is discussed by referring to the relationship between fictional and real spaces and to autobiography as a hybrid genre and creative project. This study also presents a critical-analytical reflection of Venter’s involvement with writing topics such as self-imposed exile, estrangement between place and self, global displacement/non-belongingness and “exile as a discontinuous state of being” (Said: 2000: 177). One of the key insights Venter demonstrates in his writing, is that space, like identity, is not an essentialist concept, but an incomplete and diffuse construction that is constantly changing depending on socio-political interventions, international migration patterns and the individual's subjective perception of places. / Afrikaans and Theory of Literature / D. Litt. et Phil. (Afrikaans)