This master's thesis elaborates correspondence between F. X. Šalda and Růžena Svobodová. Based on extensive research of their entire correspondence, it tries to give general characteristic of letters (their extent, dating, the question of their publication, the intention for its literary utilization ect.) and compare all of the correspondence with publication Tížívá samota. Despite of the scope of the publication it includes only fragment of their conversations. The thesis analyses letters and their content of self- stylisation of the authors themselves, alternatively stylisation of the addressee, and out of the extraordinary nature of letters it polemizes to what extent is their correspondence reflection of lived out reality or a literary fiction. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

This thesis is focused on the decadent form of Czech symbolist literature at the turn of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. The main task is to present a complex catalogue of motifs and images used by Czech decadents in their works and also to analyse the main methods and strategies they used - in particular interstatuality, also connected with the decadent effort to capture the uniqueness of each passing moment, and synaesthesia. The thesis also focuses on the radical individualism of decadent authors and its connection with both the motifs used and the symbolist style in itself - in the form of self-stylization of the decadent authors who tend to identify with their own works and become (even in real life) their own literal subjects. Because of the prominent visual aspect of decadent literature, the thesis also takes into consideration contemporary art works and the relations between words and images.

Alone in a Crowd: Charles Baudelaire and 20th-Century and Contemporary Art The dissertation called Alone in a Crowd explores the influence of the poet Charles Baudelaire's personality and work on 20th-century and contemporary art. Due to the field of study, the main focus is on the visual arts, but literature, music, philosophy, and film are also included to a large extent. This dissertation is divided into four substantive chapters. The first chapter, The Inner Message, introduces the poet's life, his family and acquaintances, as well as Baudelaire's poetry collection The Flowers of Evil. Themes of evil, ugliness, fear, death, and even a relationship to their mother, father and women are common for 20th-century and contemporary artists. This chapter presents Félicien Rops, James Ensor, Edvard Munch, Hans Bellmer, Francis Bacon, Joel-Peter Witkin, Kurt Cobain, members of the Young British Artists group, Lars von Trier, and others. The second chapter pursues the correspondence theory. The character of the Swedish philosopher Emanuel Swedenborg and his successor, William Blake, is followed by Baudelaire's understanding of sensual and spiritual correspondences, as his principles are adopted by modern artists in a distinct manner. The third chapter called "On the Edge of Society" covers the curse...