Bøger udgivet af Karolinum,Nakladatelstvi Univerzity Karlovy,Czech Republic

In this book-length study, Ewa Szary-Matywiecka examines Maria Wirtemberska's Malvina, or the Heart's Intuition, an international success upon its publication in 1816 that is now widely considered to be Poland's first psychological novel. Applying structuralist methods, Szary-Matywiecka situates Wirtemberska among other literary luminaries of her day, including Rousseau and Goethe, and explores how the nineteenth-century salon culture formed the concerns and themes of her novel. Malvina's obsession with language games recall the vocabulary quizzes and semantic puzzles popular in the European salons frequented by Wirtemberska. Szary-Matywiecka also argues that the novel's motif of twins and twinned characters emerges from both the theatrical preoccupations of salons, as well as how Wirtemberska seemingly splits her voice between traditional narration and a more intrusive authorial style, helping shape her novel's innovative narrative method. Malvina, or Spoken Word in the Novel is an insightful deconstruction of a female-penned classic of European literature.

Sometimes called the Czech Bukowski, and more widely known by the epithet "Magor" (which translates roughly to "fool" or "madman"), Ivan Jirous was one of the most significant figures in the Czechoslovak cultural underground of the 1960s through the '80s. Although trained as an art historian and famed for his poetry, Jirous was convinced that it was actually rock and roll music that held the greatest potential to enact change under the repressive regime of communist Czechoslovakia. He designated himself as the artistic director of the dissident rock band The Plastic People of the Universe, legendary for psychedelic music that was heavily influenced by nonconformist Western acts like Frank Zappa and The Velvet Underground. Alongside other figures from the musical underground, Jirous was arrested in 1976--the second of five prison sentences he would serve for his dissent--which helped bring about the landmark civil rights initiative known as Charter 77. In the wake of 1989's Velvet Revolution, Váсlav Havel--the first president of the Czech Republic--was to say that Jirous and his unwavering commitment to liberation played "no small part" in casting off the yoke of Soviet oppression. End of the World is the first major collection in English of the works of this legendary Czech "madman." Although nicknamed for his aggressive and rebellious behavior, Jirous's writing reveal a refined, sophisticated, and even tender sensibility. Translated in part by Paul Wilson, an original member of the Plastic People, the book gathers his poems and letters from prison, as well as his book-length prose work, The True Story of the Plastic People, alongside critical essays on Jirous's life and work. End of the World is an ideal introduction to the raucous writer who playwright Tom Stoppard referred to as one of the most interesting personalities in modern Czech history.

Lasting from around 4800 to 4000 BCE, the Lengyel culture helped usher in the Copper Age in Central Europe with the rise of mining, craft production, and the trading of copper and obsidian, in addition to larger-scale farming. In Health and Disease in the Neolithic Lengyel Culture, the authors investigate the migration of the Lengyel people as they moved west from their place of origin in modern-day Hungary to areas in what is now the Czech Republic and Poland. By drawing on research into the trace elements of strontium, carbon, and nitrogen found in human bone tissue, as well paleopathological analyses of congenital defects, this book proves that the Lengyel migration occurred in waves, providing important details about the changes in the diet, health, and mobility of a people who were crucial to the development of early European civilization

CZ;SK

Spanning his entire career, this selection of texts by influential philosopher Jan Patočka illustrates his thoughts on the appropriate manner of being and engagement in the world. The writings assembled in Living in Problematicity examine the role of the philosopher in the world, how the world constrains us through ideology, and how freedom is possible through the recognition of our human condition in the problems of the world. These views outline Patočka's political philosophy and how his later engagement in the political sphere with the human rights initiative Charter 77 corresponds with the ideas he maintained throughout his life. This short and engaging book--published in conjunction with the prestigious philosophy press OIKOYMENH--is an ideal English-language introduction to the most significant Czech philosopher in recent history.

Jan Patočka was a Czech philosopher who not only lived through the turbulent politics of twentieth-century Central Europe, but he shaped his intellectual contributions in response to that tumult. One of the last students of Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger, he was a philosophical inspiration to Václav Havel and other dissidents who confronted the Soviet regimes before 1989, as well as being actively involved in authoring and enacting Charter 77 in Czechoslovakia. He died in 1977 from medical complications resulting from interrogations of the secret police, his political involvement cut short by an untimely death. Confronting Totalitarian Minds examines his legacy along with several contemporary applications of his ideas about dissidence, solidarity, and the human being's existential confrontation with unjust politics. Aspen Briton puts Patočka's ideas about dissidence, citizen mobilization, and civic responsibility in conversation with those of notable world historical figures like Mohandas Gandhi, expanding the current possibilities of comparative political theory. In adding a fresh voice to contemporary conversations on transcending injustice, Confronting Totalitarian Minds seeks to educate a wider audience about this philosopher's continued relevance to political dissidents across the world.

Being located between the Black and Caspian seas, Azerbaijan has always been the juncture of Eurasia‿with a traditional reputation as a crossroads between the north-south and east-west transport corridors‿and the traditional ground for competition between numerous regional and global players, using both soft and hard power. With its vast hydrocarbon energy reserves, Azerbaijan is a country of particular importance in the South Caucasus. The region‿s complex geopolitics have immensely influenced Azerbaijan‿s foreign policy strategy. With the dissolution of the USSR, Azerbaijan, as a new state with fragile security, found itself in a complicated situation surrounded by regional powers like Iran, Russia, and Turkey. This book focuses on several major foreign policy issues faced by the Republic of Azerbaijan since it regained its independence in 1991. These major issues include the conflict with Armenia and related matters, the relationship with the West, as well as the complexities arising from its relationship with Russia and its ties to Muslim countries, such as Iran and Saudi Arabia.

This volume presents over 1000 reliefs and 39 paintings recorded by Czech archaeologists as part of the UNESCO project to salvage antiquities threatened by the rising waters of damming projects.

A complete textbook for a course for English-language speakers who want to learn Czech. Based on a communicative and comparative approach, it presents the basics of the Czech language by means of continuous and systematic acquisition of vocabulary and conversational phrases grouped around useful topics and situations.

An English translation that captures Vladislav Vancura's experimental style - or, as the author himself called it, "poetism in prose." It is presented alongside the original illustrations and typography and goes a long way toward deepening our understanding of the Czech spirit, humor, and way of life.

A complete textbook for a course for English-language speakers who want to learn Czech. Based on a communicative and comparative approach, it presents the basics of the Czech language by means of continuous and systematic acquisition of vocabulary and conversational phrases grouped around useful topics and situations.

A novel featuring Saturnin, a 'gentleman's gentleman' who obviously owes a debt to Wodehouse's beloved Jeeves, who wages a constant battle to protect his master from romantic disaster and intrusive relatives, such as Aunt Catherine, the 'Prancing Dictionary of Slavic Proverbs'.

Novelist Bohumil Hrabal (1914-97) was born in Brno, Czechoslovakia, and spent decades working at a variety of laboring jobs before turning to writing in his late forties. This book offers a collection of stories that set in Hrabal's Kersko.

Born January 1, 1993, after it split with Slovakia, the Czech Republic is one of the youngest members of the European Union. Despite its youth as a nation, this land and the areas just outside its modern borders boasts an ancient and intricate past. This title provides a historical account of this region.

Famous as the libretto for Antonín Dvorák's opera of the same name, Jaroslav Kvapil's poem Rusalka is an intriguing work of literature on its own. Directly inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's famous "The Little Mermaid," Kvapil's reinterpretation adds an array of nuanced poetic techniques, a more dramatic tempo, and dark undertones that echo the work of eminent Czech folklorist Karel Jaromír Erben. All of these influences work in tandem to create a poetic work that is familiar yet innovative. Transposed into the folkloric topos of a landlocked Bohemia, the mermaid is rendered here as a Slavic rusalka-a dangerous water nymph-who must choose between love and immortality. Thus, Rusalka, while certainly paying homage to the original story's Scandinavian roots, is still a distinct work of modern Czech literature. Newly translated by Patrick Corness, Kvapil's work will now find a fresh group of readers looking to get lost in one of Europe's great lyrical fairy tale traditions.

By examining the myriad myths surrounding Central European universities, Czech historians Lukás Fasora and Jiří Hanus take a diachronic approach to investigating the issues facing higher learning in the region. Using careful historical research, the authors point out vast discontinuities, comparing how the philosophy of education from the Middle Ages to the nineteenth century has changed and how this evolution relates to the current administrative goals of higher education. As they confront the history and myths of university education, the authors do not shy away from exploring difficult questions, such as whether political and economic influences have completely transformed the goals and structure of today's universities in Central Europe. Though focused on university systems in a specific geographic region, the findings have wide-ranging implications for higher education the world over.

Josef Safařík's Seven Letters to Melin is an exploration of man's alienation from nature--and from himself--in the modern technological age. Conceived as a series of letters to Melin, an engineer who believes in the value of science and technical progress, the book grows skeptical of such endeavors, while also examining mankind's search for meaning in life. To help uncover this meaning, Safařík posits a dichotomy between spectator and participant. The role of participant is played by Robert, an artist who has committed suicide. The spectator, embodied by the scientist Melin, views the world from a distance and searches for explanations, while the artist-participant creates the world through his own active engagement. Through these exchanges, Safařík argues for the primacy of artistic creativity over scientific explanation, of truth over accuracy, of internal moral agency over an externally imposed social morality, and of personal religious belief over organized church-going. Safařík is neither anti-scientific nor anti-rational; however, he argues that science has limited power, and he rejects the idea of science that denies meaning and value to what cannot be measured or calculated. Safařík's critiques of technology, the wage economy, and increased professionalization make him an important precursor to the philosophy of deep ecology. This book was also a major influence on the Czech president Václav Havel; in this new translation it will find a fresh cohort of readers interested in what makes us human.

Sherabad Oasis: Tracing Historical Landscape in Southern Uzbekistan is the second volume of the series examining the Czech-Uzbek archaeological expedition in southern Uzbekistan. While the first book was devoted to the excavations at the central site of the Sherabad Oasis called Jandavlattepa, this volume analyzes the development of the settlement throughout this oasis based on important new data gained in the recent expedition. The methodology used includes extensive and intensive archaeological surveys, revisions of previously published archaeological data, historical maps, and innovative satellite images. Apart from the dynamics of the settlement of the research area, spanning from prehistoric to modern time, the development of the irrigation systems in the lowland steppe is also assessed. Edited by Ladislav Stančo and Petra Tuslová, this volume continues the significant work of Czech researchers in Uzbekistan, a key Central Asian republic at the crossroads of history and culture.

Thought necessarily reflects the times. Following the tragedy of the Holocaust, this fact became ever more clear. And it may be the reason postwar philosophical texts are so difficult to understand, since they confront incomprehensibly traumatic experiences. In this first English-language translation of any of his books, Miroslav Petříček--one of the most influential and erudite Czech philosophers, and a student of Jan Patočka--argues that to exist in the second half of the twentieth century and beyond, Western philosophy has had to rewrite its tradition and its discourse, radically transforming itself. Should philosophy be capable of bearing witness to the time, Petříček contends, this metamorphosis in philosophy is necessary. Offering an original Central European perspective on postwar philosophical discourse that reflects upon the historical underpinnings of pop culture phenomena and complex philosophical schools--including Adorno, Agamben, Benjamin, Derrida, Husserl, Kracauer, and many others--Philosophy en noir is a record of this transformation.

In honor of the 2018 centennial of Czech independence, philosopher of law Jiří Přibán and award-winning Czech journalist Karel Hvízďala took the opportunity to examine key moments in Czech history from the ninth century to the twenty-first. Covering such a broad span of time allowed them to look into the past and question how Czechs have viewed their history at different points--and what that means for the Czech present and future. As contemporary politics drift closer towards totalitarianism, historiography from scholars and thinkers who experienced twentieth-century totalitarian regimes is more important than ever. In their spirited dialogue, Hvízďala and Přibán raise and explore these crucial issues, sharing subjects normally reserved for university seminars with the broader public.

In the repressive context of East European Communist regimes, how did young girls and boys come to realize their sexuality? What did they do with that self-awareness--and later on, as adults, what strategies did they employ in their dealings with the regime? Queer Encounters with Communist Power answers these questions as it interweaves a groundbreaking queer oral history project with meticulous, original research into the discourse on homosexuality and transsexuality in Czechoslovakia from 1948 to 1989. Contrary to expectations, the book reveals that despite the Czechoslovak Communist regime's brutality in many areas of life, the state did not carry out a hateful or seditious campaign against homosexual and non-heterosexual people. Rather, the official state sexology offices functioned from the late 1970s onward as essentially the first gay clubs in socialist Czechoslovakia. Interweaving the memories of non-heterosexual Czech women born between 1929 and 1952, Vera Sokolov 's study both enriches and challenges existing scholarship on lesbian and gay history during this era, promising to radically change the way we view gender, sexuality, and everyday life during East European socialism.