A considerable amount of information can be found about Pavel Z., but it is incomplete, his biographical data is listed only vaguely, usually in the form of short medallions. Most pieces about Pavel Z. are mainly written in connection with the so-called process with "Plastic People" or in connection with his artistic work. Mapping the life of Pavel Z., among other things, not just through his words and the testimonies of his close ones, is a probe into the history of a prominent personality, persecuted during the so-called normalization regime in Czechoslovakia and operating abroad, and a look back to his roots. Last but not least, it also represents an example of specific human thinking, and therefore serves as a mirror embedded in contemporary society.

The thesis offers an interpretation of Paul's political thought and political theology in the context of current philosophy. The first part presents a methodological basis of the work: the concept of political theology is conceived as a methodological tool that enables us to concentrate on interrelations and mutual effects of religion and politics and to expose implicit or explicit political meanings and implications of religious ideas. The second methodological subchapter deals with Max Weber's approach to "economic ethics of world religions": Weber concentrates on historical crossroads and switches which are a result of random chain of coincidences and factors forming a specific relation to values (Wertbeziehung) which enables us to understand further historical development. Paul's missionary activity and theology is seen as such historical crossroad with far- reaching social consequences. Another part elaborately deals with the most important and influential interpretations of Paul in current non-Christian philosophy: Jacob Taubes, Alain Badiou, Giorgio Agamben. The attention is given not only to presentation of their interpretations but also to utilizations and interpretative gaps, which could be observed in the way these authors read and understand Paul. Though for different reasons, for all of them...

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This thesis examines the poetry of poets who officially entered the Czech literary scene in 1990s - after The Velvet Revolution. That was a period of time when Czech literary life changed completely. The thesis focuses on the artists born during the 1960s and the early 1970s - Petr Borkovec, Martin Langer, Pavel Kolmačka and Petr Hruška. The thesis concentrates on the analysis of their first two individual collections published between 1990-1998. What is important is the fact that the authors are not negatively influenced by the cultural politics from the communism era. First, the thesis outlines the events on the Czech literary scene after the revolution. Then it offers a view of the individual poets' works. This part also presents the critical reflection of the period, while the main focus is on the interpretation of poetic works. Through analytical reading this thesis follows the fundamental motive constants and it also reflects other important components of the early authorial poetics. The aim is to point out the tendencies in young Czech poetry at the time of sudden multiplicity of possibilities and to prove or disprove the presence of traditional poetics. Keywords: Czech poetry, 1990, poetic debut, Petr Borkovec, Martin Langer, Pavel Kolmačka, Petr Hruška

The 1950s and 1960s in Czechoslovakia witnessed a fundamental shift in the dramatic and theatrical realms. Following the Communist takeover of 1948, Soviet-inspired Socialist Realism became the official aesthetic of the Czech lands, displacing the avant-garde trends that had dominated the pre-war era. This normative aesthetic program demanded a party-minded ideological perspective (partiinost) and a certain level of accessibility to the masses (narodnost). After the death of Stalin, as the political situation began to thaw, various theatre practitioners began to undermine these Socialist Realist demands, widening the literary horizons by experimenting with a variety of trends, and ultimately sowing the seeds that would lead to the flowering of the Czech theatre of the 1960s. This thesis investigates the ways in which the Socialist Realist model for dramatic and theatrical expression was subverted on the experimental stages of Prague in the late 1950s and 1960s. Specifically, it analyzes the changing role of ideology, dramatic and theatrical space, and objects during this period. By the 1960s, the earnest, socialist ideology that pervaded Socialist Realism in its purported message to the audience had become a stale aesthetic model. In 1963, Václav Havel’s Zahradní slavnost couches this ideology in an absurd dramatic world, subverting and satirizing the didactic nature of Socialist Realism while simultaneously drawing from the Czech avant-garde and foreign trends like the so-called Theatre of the Absurd. Prague’s experimental theatre movement in the 1950s and 1960s, though certainly present on large stages like the National Theatre, primarily sprang from the city’s small stages. Both Jiří Suchý and Jiří Šlitr’s Semafor Theatre and Otomar Krejča’s Theatre Beyond the Gate managed highly innovative productions despite limited stage space. This was made possible, in part, due to their remarkable use of the off-stage and imaginary action spaces. In his article “Man and Object in the Theatre,” Jiří Veltruský notes that human actors on stage operate between two poles: highly spontaneous and highly determined actions. Socialist Realism, which offered its audience models of behaviour for their lives outside the theatre, reduced characters to types, limiting their perceived spontaneity, as they exist primarily to fulfill necessary narrative functions (i.e., the positive hero). In a sense, human beings are objectified. In his adaptation of Alfred Jarry’s Ubu roi, director Jan Grossman takes this to the extreme. By presenting the actions of his actors as highly determined, he reduces the human figure to a manipulated object. When Ubu oversees the annihilation of these beings, Grossman both parodies the Socialist Realist approach to characterization and offers a stunningly subversive rebuke of the Czech political culture. In this work I show how the innovative spirit of Czech theatre and drama of the 1960s represented an era of shifting aesthetic norms, which reacted to the strict, normative Socialist Realist trend of the 1950s, borrowed from numerous foreign and domestic trends both past and present, and developed unique techniques of their own in order to create impactful works on the stage and on the page.

The 1950s and 1960s in Czechoslovakia witnessed a fundamental shift in the dramatic and theatrical realms. Following the Communist takeover of 1948, Soviet-inspired Socialist Realism became the official aesthetic of the Czech lands, displacing the avant-garde trends that had dominated the pre-war era. This normative aesthetic program demanded a party-minded ideological perspective (partiinost) and a certain level of accessibility to the masses (narodnost). After the death of Stalin, as the political situation began to thaw, various theatre practitioners began to undermine these Socialist Realist demands, widening the literary horizons by experimenting with a variety of trends, and ultimately sowing the seeds that would lead to the flowering of the Czech theatre of the 1960s. This thesis investigates the ways in which the Socialist Realist model for dramatic and theatrical expression was subverted on the experimental stages of Prague in the late 1950s and 1960s. Specifically, it analyzes the changing role of ideology, dramatic and theatrical space, and objects during this period. By the 1960s, the earnest, socialist ideology that pervaded Socialist Realism in its purported message to the audience had become a stale aesthetic model. In 1963, Václav Havel’s Zahradní slavnost couches this ideology in an absurd dramatic world, subverting and satirizing the didactic nature of Socialist Realism while simultaneously drawing from the Czech avant-garde and foreign trends like the so-called Theatre of the Absurd. Prague’s experimental theatre movement in the 1950s and 1960s, though certainly present on large stages like the National Theatre, primarily sprang from the city’s small stages. Both Jiří Suchý and Jiří Šlitr’s Semafor Theatre and Otomar Krejča’s Theatre Beyond the Gate managed highly innovative productions despite limited stage space. This was made possible, in part, due to their remarkable use of the off-stage and imaginary action spaces. In his article “Man and Object in the Theatre,” Jiří Veltruský notes that human actors on stage operate between two poles: highly spontaneous and highly determined actions. Socialist Realism, which offered its audience models of behaviour for their lives outside the theatre, reduced characters to types, limiting their perceived spontaneity, as they exist primarily to fulfill necessary narrative functions (i.e., the positive hero). In a sense, human beings are objectified. In his adaptation of Alfred Jarry’s Ubu roi, director Jan Grossman takes this to the extreme. By presenting the actions of his actors as highly determined, he reduces the human figure to a manipulated object. When Ubu oversees the annihilation of these beings, Grossman both parodies the Socialist Realist approach to characterization and offers a stunningly subversive rebuke of the Czech political culture. In this work I show how the innovative spirit of Czech theatre and drama of the 1960s represented an era of shifting aesthetic norms, which reacted to the strict, normative Socialist Realist trend of the 1950s, borrowed from numerous foreign and domestic trends both past and present, and developed unique techniques of their own in order to create impactful works on the stage and on the page.

Annotation in English My graduation work talking about the Czech string quartets shows the description about the most important and in my opinion the most successful string quartets in the Czech Republic that has strongly influenced the way of musical apperance of the contemporary string quartets in the CR. I am putting into my graduation work the information about the Czech string quartet chronologically in the historical order starting with the Czech String Quartet. My intention is, also, to provide the information about the job activities of the Czech contemporary string quartets that are representing the Czech culture and the musical tradition abroad. I am observing, through my graduation work, the way how the Czech string quartets change the musical interpretations that has been changed after several decades. However, there are no doubt that the Czech string quartets are still representing our country abroad.

The Pope's visits are important social, political, and media events. The pope always comes to the host country with a predetermined agenda, not unlike the one for state visits by politicians. The Pope's speeches are at the center of the public part of the agenda. This thesis aims to analyze the messages that the two popes presented to the nation and the world during their visits to Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic. And also how the media captured, interpreted, and brought these messages to their audiences. The results show that the popes emphasized several topics, from spiritual renewal, return to tradition, reorganization of the Church to the commemoration of Christianity as the basis of European culture. However, the media largely ignored these frames, because even the use of frames does not guarantee preferred decoding. The analysis of selected newspapers showed that the papal messages were spread the best in Lidové noviny, a paper focused on strong opinion texts. This is all the more surprising because Lidové noviny was built on the traditional anti-Catholic tradition. The narrowly focused Catholic weekly did not spread the message to such an extent. In the case of the mainstream Mladá fronta Dnes, the form of the visit prevailed over the content, and the main role was played by the...

Kateřina Šumníková Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of International Relations, department of German and Austrian studies, field of German and Central European studies Diploma thesis: The image of the pontificate of John Paul II. in Federal Republic of Germany ABSTRACT Pope John Paul II. had indisputable importance not only for the church in Central and Eastern Europe, but also for social change in Eastern Europe. In the Federal Republic of Germany, John Paul II has become a personality who aroused not only polite interest, but also an increasing controversy over the time. The diploma thesis conducts a survey of the exact causes of the distance to his personality as well as the factors of not adoring perception in the Federal Republic of Germany. Part of the work deals with the quantitative media analysis, which provides a media image of John Paul II. in selected periodicals in connection to the announcement of Pope's canonization (July 5, 2014) and subsequent canonization (April 27, 2014).

Abstract This work deals with the four final chapters of the Second Letter to Corinth, which are considered for their difference as a separate letter. The apostle Paul defends his apostolic mission here against "adversaries." The first chapters aim to bring closer the life of the Apostle Paul, his missionary journey. In abbreviated form, they also describe the individual leaves that St. Paul also wrote the so-called catalogs of suffering that these letters contain. The next section deals with Corinth. A brief outline of the history of this city-state is followed by a chapter on the local church community. After a short historical approach to Corinth, the characteristics of the local ecclesial community follow, followed by a description of the problems in this community as recorded in the letters that Paul addressed to Corinth. Behind this list is a brief introduction to the meaning of the word "apostle". At the end of this section, the work deals with the issue of Corinthian correspondence, ie the number of letters written in Corinth and their contents. After this general introduction to the problem, the work is devoted to a more detailed analysis of individual pericopes 2 Cor 10-13, which could shed light on what could be the reasons for this Great Paul's apology.