Technological growth has changed our relationships and interactions within society and theatre artists are calling into question the future of our art form. Are we still essential? And if so, how do we renovate our form in order to relate to our changing society? In my experience, I’ve found that all renovations of our art have one thing in common: the empowering nature of story. Story helps us to understand our experiences in life. It is not the self, the cause, or the goal that is behind the wheel, but the story itself. This thesis explores three instances of the empowering nature of story during my graduate studies.

Synopsis The aim of the thesis is to analyse the category of the narrator in a detective story. This category can be considered firstly as an independent textual element and secondly in its connection to the plotline. In the structure of detective stories, apart from fabula and sujet, we can discern two mutually influential plotlines. One of them is the story of the crime (past), the other is the story of the reconstruction (investigation of the crime). The way they approach each other on different levels (the setting, characters) helps us to understand the structure of the whole story. The reader can actualize the narrative also thanks to the mediator, the mediator between the text and the reader being the narrator. In the detective story Distant Star the narrator is unreliable, which expresses itself in different ways. The unreliability is supported by the fact that it is a subjectivized narration of a character who can be identified as the narrator. 'The narrator - character' does not have a single focalization in this story. He comments (e.g. by use of brackets) upon his previous stands. The point of view of the narration changes along with the character. 'The narrator - character' can at the same time be considered as the author's alter ego. We may encounter the author himself thematized in the text...

This thesis is based on local normative written sources as well as interviews with selected people living in the town of Slušovice. The aim is to analyse the various topics these people mentioned in the interviews in connection with their lives in Slušovice and in what way they remembered them. The main focus of the analysis deals with special visits to Slušovice, the cultural events connected to them, as well as the way in which these events were depicted in the media at that time. A microhistorical approach has been used when focusing on the type of content of the interviews. When dealing with the ways of remembering this thesis draws material from the work of Maurice Halbwasche and his follower, Wulf Kansteiner; i.e. the impact of individual and historical memory on collective memory. This leads to an explanation of what factors may have influenced the specific memories. Key words Slušovice, memory, interview, life story, rural Anthropology

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“Daffodils” is a collection of three fictional short stories without obvious thematic connection, yet all containing tenacious female characters. “The Winner” is told from the unflinching voice of a young wife in her struggle for control within the newfound environment of a Massachusetts boarding school. “The Seers” is a dystopian story, taking place in a world with months of “Sun” and months of dark at a time, intimately describing the effects of this phenomenon upon the civilization. Lastly, “Plastic Flowers” examines the loss of love and comfort within a relationship, depicting the insecurities of young adult life in New York City. The three stories vary in perspective, tense, genre, and setting, which allowed me to experiment broadly within fictional short story writing. An in depth introduction describing my process and inspiration for writing is included. Please enjoy!

The term ‘snap’ can be defined as breaking under tension as well as a sudden sharp noise. Both definitions lend themselves to the content of this short story collection and its theme of self-realization (the awakening from an illusionary self-identity or ego). Snap is a progression of stories that revolves around waking up. Novels such as Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man, Margaret Atwood’s Surfacing, and Paul Auster’s The New York Trilogy have all examined the issue of finding identity through a breaking of the protagonist. In each case, the protagonists come to a point where they completely separate themselves from their identity, and thus are able to see themselves from a new perspective. Snap further explores the issue of finding identity. However, unlike many postmodern predecessors it tries to give answers. The collection reveals that while we are individuals engaged in an internal struggle we are also connected to one another.

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This thesis is a collection of fictional short stories about loss and the left behind, seeking to confront grief in terms of hope, humor, and getting the oar back in the water to row on.

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