Zakarpattia Oblast of today's Ukraine has been a part of Hungarian Kingdom, Czechoslovakia, Soviet Ukraine and then, after collapse of Soviet Union, Ukraine. The main goal of this thesis is to deal with the efforts of Rusins to gain the autonomy since 1848, the economic and social potential to become the autonomous part of Ukraine today and to deal with the question whether Rusins could be considered as the nation or not. Due to isolation of this peripheral part of the state by Carpathian Mountains, Zakarpattia has always been the center of autonomic tendences. According to M. Hroch term "nation" should have its objective (by which he meant language, history, culture etc.) and subjective traits (to realize themselves as a part of the nation). There is rusin language, history and culture, but the national consciousness of beeing Rusin is still missing.

The dissertation provides a grammatical description of a cluster of Romani varieties, called 'Eastern Uzh Romani', which are spoken in Transcarpathian Ukraine in an area adjacent to the Slovak border. These varieties are associated with five traditional locations, two of which are situated in the city of Uzhhorod, representing an eastern margin of a North Central Romani dialect continuum. The focus is not only on describing the common characteristics of the entire Eastern Uzh dialect, but also on highlighting its variation with respect to specific features of the individual varieties. The description is based on first-hand data collected during numerous fieldwork trips of the author between 2007 and 2016. The dissertation is organised into thirteen chapters. Alongside the proper grammatical description, it provides a detailed overview of the speakers' historical, ethnocultural and sociolinguistic background. The main attention is given to describing inflectional, derivational as well as functional patterns of word classes. In addition, it discusses issues of phonology, including historical phonology within the North Central Romani context, and also covers various syntactic structures.

The thesis deals with a selected literary works by contemporary authors of the Central European area, which are associated with the landscape of Transcarpathian Ukraine. The thesis primarily focuses on the issue of imagining space from the narrator's perspective and a conception of its own identity in a relation to a referenced space, topography, collective memory. The initial precondition for interpreting texts is the peripheral character of the region and its features, such as nostalgy, memories of a place that is no longer, a fascination for exotism etc. Using a literary-comparative approach, the following texts are disscussed: Maroš Krajňak's Carpathia, Ziemowit Szczerek's Přijde Mordor a sežere nás aneb Tajná historie Slovanů, and Jinací by Taras Prochasko. Concerning space visualisation and its narrative potential related to the narrator's identity, the theoretical basis of the work is experimentaly set in a postcolonial framework. As such, the thesis intends to capture the resonance of the material in another culture (ie in the Czech, Slovak and Polish environment). Key words Central European literature, cultural context, periphery, postcolonialism, identity, landscape, Transcarpathian Ukraine

The thesis deals with a selected literary works by contemporary authors of the Central European area, which are associated with the landscape of Transcarpathian Ukraine. The thesis primarily focuses on the issue of imagining space from the narrator's perspective and a conception of its own identity in a relation to a referenced space, topography, collective memory. The initial precondition for interpreting texts is the peripheral character of the region and its features, such as nostalgy, memories of a place that is no longer, a fascination for exotism etc. Using a literary-comparative approach, the following texts are disscussed: Maroš Krajňak's Carpathia, Ziemowit Szczerek's Přijde Mordor a sežere nás aneb Tajná historie Slovanů, and Jinací by Taras Prochasko. Concerning space visualisation and its narrative potential related to the narrator's identity, the theoretical basis of the work is experimentaly set in a postcolonial framework. As such, the thesis intends to capture the resonance of the material in another culture (ie in the Czech, Slovak and Polish environment). Key words Central European literature, cultural context, periphery, postcolonialism, identity, landscape, Transcarpathian Ukraine

This thesis deals with the phenomenon of Carpathian Ruthenia, or Zakarpattia, which is one of the most discussed issues in Czech literature. It expands the traditional view of the issue with a chronological survey of works by Czech authors who were inspired by Carpathian Ruthenia, and maps their writings created from the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 21st century. It focuses on their interpretation, with particular reference to the topology. The first chapter presents the terminological problems associated with the territory of the Transcarpathian region and briefly summarizes its history. The next chapter submits an account of the exceptional nature of this area (its contrasts, periphery, regionalism, myths, exoticism, idylls and adventures), and attempts to characterize its uniqueness (backwardness, belief in superstitions, Jews, alcoholism, poachers, enchanting countryside and outlaws). Carpathian Ruthenia appears to be a place of secrecy, where hypothetical characters grow. The topology of the mountain is also an important element. The following chapter, the longest, presents most of the works by the Czech authors who were inspired by this region. The first of these authors came to Carpathian Ruthenia during the 1920s as government workers or tourists. Their works are arranged...