The aim of my work is to comment on the issue of narcissism, which is marked as an epidemic of our time. Narcissism is mostly psychological phenomenon and its generalization to society is difficult. In my preparatory studies on this topic within sociology, I could not find any solution, that would offer a change of position. In my attempt to achieve this, I went back to the original myth.

The thesis is concerned with the instances of the figures of mythology of the antiquity in the works of Jean Cocteau and their application. It focuses on the character of Narcissus, which is examined in connection to Oedipus and Orpheus, while concentrating mainly on the topic of mirroring and the related motives of the eye and sight. This mirroring is then not examined only on the level of an aesthetic object, but also in relation to the recipient and in mutual interferences between various media. The thesis is methodologically based on selected philosophical theses by Maurice Merlau-Ponty and the theoretical concepts of Pierre Brunel, Mieke Bal and Mary Ann Caws. Within the works of Jean Cocteau the thesis is primarily concerned with the analysis of the novels The Holy Terrors (Les Enfants Terribles), Le Livre Blanc and their illustrations, the poem "Tombeau de Narcisse", the play La Machine infernale and the films Blood of a Poet, Orpheus and The Testament of Orpheus.

The diploma thesis consists of three parts. The first part is devoted to the expression `vase{\crq} and further to the shift of the word vase and different use of vases in the selected historical periods. It deals with the meaning of flowers in the selected historical periods. The second part follows, which deals with lily and daffodil and reasoning of choice of these flowers. This part describes concepts of design of vases for these cut flowers. Next it deals with typology of vases, rules for designing of vases and rules for drapery. The third part deals with practical fabrication of vases for lily and daffodil. It describes technique of vases manufacturing with help of plaster moulds, and complete procedure for their fabrication. Following appendixes document the development of design of vases.

Annotation: The main topic of this thesis is an analysis of tameness and wildness phenomena in particular Hermann Hesse's novels. Thesis will aim to expressions and interpenetrations of those phenomena and their position in period mind frame.Aim will be chronological analysis of those phenomena, their evolution and change in particular novels and an attempt of their synthesis. Key words: Hesse, Nietzsche, tammeness, wildness, Freud, Jung, Demian, Steppenwolf, Narcissus and Goldmund, The Glass Bead game, dialectic, dualism

Michel Maffesoli and Zygmunt Bauman add the traits of Benjamin's flâneur to the (neo-)nomad, namely his "flâneur" gaze and his relation to commodities. But in the concept of nomad these traits gain specific nature - on the field of fashion they transform nomad into migrant, who is capable of creative work with vanitas. Nomad as a travelling flâneur is a stranger-guest and becomes a tourist, willingly getting lost in the city and voluntarily being surprised by unexpected encounters. Tourists relation to his memories could be described with Benjamin's description of mémoire involontaire as a revived punctum. A tourist prepares his memories like a nicely descending ruins. Souvenir is his materialised memory. It's not only a duplicated plastic Eiffel tower, but a magic artifact. It's a collective aura, what's on Benjamin's mind when he writes about aura regression. The private aura comes instead, turning things to talismans, reenchanting the world. The era of postmechanical reproduction reminds one, that there is a way to reproduce not just mechanically but biologically: a bricolage remix is made. Souvenirs descend and take shape of hommogenic rummage which reveals the fundamental form of postmodern metamorphosis: recyclation. This metamorphosis can finally be used when analyzing the settler turn into nomad...

The thesis analyzes and compares the approaches of two authors dealing with phenomena in contemporary society. It focuses mainly on issues of lifestyle and values. The thesis asks questions related to socialization and individualization of society. The thesis is divided into four parts. The first part is about definition of the basic terms (postmodernism, lifestyle, values). The second part is devoted to the concept of Gilles Lipovetsky. The third part focuses on the concept of Michel Maffesoli. In the fourth section, there is a comparison of these two concepts, where we are primarily focused on tracing argumentation clashes and controversies. In the final part, there is the presentation of the main questions and ideas, that come out on the basis of this comparison.

The theme of the dissertation submitted is the novel Devil Guardian, whose author is a Mexican writer Xavier Velasco. This dissertation is the very first theoretical work in the Czech environment, devoted to the above-mentioned piece of literature published in 2004. In a sense, Devil Guardian represents a characteristic Mexican novel of the early 21st century, combining tradition and novelty in a surprising and original manner. A significant feature of the contemporary Mexican literature is a departure from the theme of Mexicanity, generally from a programmatic indulging in so-called national literature. Velasco's novel is an exemplary, however, not only piece of literature proving that the literary break-up with Mexico is neither an exclusive nor a dominant attribute of the contemporary Mexican fiction. In Devil Guardian Velasco focuses his mind on the theme of personal and national identity, which he treats in a considerably nontraditional manner, giving an ironical turn to speak to a hypermodern girl moving in the globalized world. The dissertation is divided into six parts. The first part "Originality Rooted in Tradition" refers to Devil Guardian ensuing the tradition of Mexican novel and innovating it. The second part "Xavier Velasco" briefly introduces the author's life and work. The issues...

ANNOTATION: The work The Mirror of Reality in the Imagery of Dreams of the 19th and 20th Centuries - Creative Individuality versus the Chaos of the Time is based on the assumption that dreams are inseparably linked to the concept of existence in human life (Michel Foucault). The study touches on the ways in which dreams are depicted in visual culture that does not coincide with chronologically organized historical events, but is an expression of a free alliance between artists in the European space and centuries of common experience. These works are generally socially critical, exposed to unimaginable pressure from public censorship. The artist must pretend it is only an innocent game, a crazy idea, a whim. At the same time, these paintings are not an expression of boundless imagination, but they are subject to the firm rules of spatial construction of the painting. This is due to the traditional delimitation of dark depths - the underworld of Virgil's Saturn myth of pre-Roman culture, alternating with the vertically felt open heavens as variants of the original Plato's The Myth of Er, which in the 20th century paintings is replaced by the idea of an open landscape with illumination on the low horizon. The work deals with the work of Albrecht Dürer, his copperplate Melancholia I (1514) and his so-called...