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This book analyses the shifting patterns of Czechoslovak educational aid programmes for sub-Saharan African countries within the broader framework of the global debates on the nature of development aid in education discussed on the UNESCO grounds during the three “development decades.”Starting in the early 1960s, Czechoslovakia sent abroad hundreds of experts hoping to stimulate the development of local educational and scientific institutions. However, over the years, the development aid to African countries transformed into a special form of foreign trade, and distribution of experts turned into a profitable business. Yet, the tendencies towards “sustainability” and “higher return on investment” in the field of development aid were not limited just to the socialist bloc but emerged globally. This book, therefore, not only revisits the roles of Czechoslovakia and Africa in the Cold War history but also reflects on the function of aid in international politics.The Eastern Bloc and Sub-Saharan Africa will appeal to students and historians specializing in the global Cold War, and particularly those curious about development, international organizations, economic history and transfers of knowledge in transnational networks.

The focus of this book is translation of fiction from English to Czech (with a brief excursion to the other direction of translating), and its goal is to introduce literary translation as a complex and dynamic phenomenon conditioned by numerous individual, cultural, social and time factors such as the sense and style of the original, expectations, knowledge and experience base of the reader, differing opinions on and approaches to translation, differences in the source and target languages and cultures, and last but definitely not least the attitudes, values, educational background, professional profile and unique life experience of the translator.

Kancionál český [The Czech Hymnal] – collected and edited by a literarily versatile Jesuit Matěj Václav Šteyer (1630–1692) – is one of the most extensive and also most published Czech hymnals. It was published six times (1683, 1687, 1697, 1712, 1727, 1764) and as records show, it has been used at least until the beginning of the 20th century. It contains nearly 1000 Czech sacred song texts and more than 800 song tunes of different origins from different eras, including the early medieval vernacular chant Hospodine pomilůj ny [Lord, Have Mercy on Us] as well as sacred songs from the second half of the 17th century. Despite the impressive coverage of Kancionál český, the content was carefully selected and the selection was based on various criteria. The first criterion was undoubtedly the linguistic one: only sacred songs in Czech were to appear (Latin and German hymns appear only as Czech translations, paraphrases or adaptations). Another criterion was the popularity of the sacred song: three quarters of the songs found in Šteyer's Kancionál český have been printed before. Hence, the hymnal can be perceived as an obliging response of the clergy to lay piety. Furthermore, to be selected for Kancionál český, the sacred song must comply with the Catholic doctrine. This criterion, however, was taken with a grain of salt: Šteyer included a number of non‑Catholic hymns provided they did not openly contradict the Catholic doctrine. Finally, an important criterion for selecting sacred songs for Kancionál český was that the song must be understandable to ‘common people'. There are a few hints indicating this: first, Šteyer deliberately left aside lyrics with a higher artistic ambition. Second, the musical form of the collected repertoire is rather simple (there is no polyphonic music and/or instrumental accompaniment). Thirdly, the consistent use of vernacular indicates the attempt to reach a larger audience rather clearly. Given its form and content, Kancionál český presented a respectable repertoire of Czech sacred songs in their basic form – form that could be used for further arrangements (e.g. for polyphony). Šteyer's collection of Czech sacred songs is thus an interesting testimony to the literary life of its time and the times of its reception; it reflects the functions of a sung word at those times, it demonstrates the role played by hymnography in the vernacular on the formation of lay piety and confessional identity. Kancionál český can be seen as a medium forming the ‘correct'confessional identity of the common Czech people after the battle at Bílá hora in 1620. This role is detectable in various ways; most notably the way Šteyer included the existing sacred songs into his Kancionál český and through the types of adaptations the hymn texts had to undergo before they could be included in Kancionál český. Most importantly, Šteyer presents the collected sacred songs as evidence of the immemorial ‘catholic'piety of the Czechs and in this way, Kancionál český is one of the most successful attempts of the Czech Catholics to ‘appropriate'non‑Catholic hymns and re‑code them to the ‘right'confession. In the wider context, Šteyer's work on Kancionál český can be interpreted as an effort (typical of a few generations of Czech Catholic intellectuals after the battle at Bílá hora) to interpret Czech history from a strictly Catholic perspective and, in this way, to shape the Czech collective memory in a Catholic mold. The present work, then, encourages a more focused study on the memorial function of hymnography. It aims to stimulate researchers to study Czech hymnography, the rivalry and conflicts of various hymnals – but also to study the parts shared by them. It encourages studying the role of Czech hymnography (and hymnbook production) in the formation of confessional and national identity in the Czech society and, in general, in the reflection of the Czech past. Kancionál český reveals a nontrivial amount of information about its

How risky encounters between American and Czech writers behind the Iron Curtain shaped the art and politics of the Cold War and helped define an era of dissent.“In some indescribable way, we are each other's continuation,” Arthur Miller wrote of the imprisoned Czech playwright Václav Havel. After a Soviet-led invasion ended the Prague Spring, many US-based writers experienced a similar shock of solidarity. Brian Goodman examines the surprising and consequential connections between American and Czech literary cultures during the Cold War—connections that influenced art and politics on both sides of the Iron Curtain.American writers had long been attracted to Prague, a city they associated with the spectral figure of Franz Kafka. Goodman reconstructs the Czech journeys of Allen Ginsberg, Philip Roth, and John Updike, as well as their friendships with nonconformists like Havel, Josef Škvorecký, Ivan Klíma, and Milan Kundera. Czechoslovakia, meanwhile, was home to a literary counterculture shaped by years of engagement with American sources, from Moby-Dick and the Beats to Dixieland jazz and rock'n'roll. Czechs eagerly followed cultural trends in the United States, creatively appropriating works by authors like Langston Hughes and Ernest Hemingway, sometimes at considerable risk to themselves.The Nonconformists tells the story of a group of writers who crossed boundaries of language and politics, rearranging them in the process. The transnational circulation of literature played an important role in the formation of new subcultures and reading publics, reshaping political imaginations and transforming the city of Kafka into a global capital of dissent. From the postwar dream of a “Czechoslovak road to socialism” to the neoconservative embrace of Eastern bloc dissidence on the eve of the Velvet Revolution, history was changed by a collision of literary cultures.

V minulém desetiletí se v poezii pro děti objevila řada nových jmen i originálně koncipovaných výborů. Předkládaná kolektivní monografie sleduje nynější vývoj a mapuje nakladatelský a autorský pohyb v tomto segmentu. Zaměřuje se na soudobé české autory (Petr Borkovec, Daniela Fischerová, Robin Král, Radek Malý, Petr Nikl, Ester Stará, Ivan Wernisch aj.) a díla některých jejich předchůdců (Vladimír Holan, Josef Hiršal a Bohumila Grögerová či Jan Skácel). Jejich básnická tvorba také slouží jako materiál pro didakticky koncipovanou studii zamýšlející se nad budoucností čítanek a hledisek, podle nichž je do nich zařazována současná poezie.

Knižní studie se věnuje tématu kaligrafických inspirací v kontextu světových a českých dějin umění. Inspirace v oblasti čínské nebo japonské kaligrafie totiž výraznou měrou přispěly k rozvoji mezioborových přístupů, zejména v souvislosti s hledáním společných východisek malířské a básnické tvorby, ale také v prolínání výtvarného umění s hudební, taneční nebo filmovou oblastí. Kniha se věnuje charakteristice dvou jednotících prvků kaligrafie? motivu kruhu a spirály. Zkoumá především to, jak umění vyjadřuje ontologický význam tělesnosti a cirkularity těla prostřednictvím uvolnění malířského gesta, rozvíjení performativních projevů a fyzického propojení umělce s dílem. Další důležitou problematikou je periodické obnovování historického času, které se ukazuje být zásadní pro moderní i současné umělecké uvažování. Kruh jako symbol začátku - výchozí bod filozofického myšlení nebo vzniku uměleckého díla - v sobě zároveň obsahuje návaznost, cyklické opakování uměleckého, historického či sociopolitického kontextu.

Title in English: The Ways of the Authorial Fairy Tale after the Year 2000 in the Czech Republic and in Bulgaria This monograph deals with a genre of children's literature (literature for children and young adults) – the contemporary authorial fairy tales published between 2000 and 2020 in the Czech Republic and in Bulgaria. Using a comparative method and analysis of the works, the monograph follows the development shifts in the genre of authorial fairy tale in both national literatures. The work is selective, focused on the most distinctive types of authorial fairy tales. The division of the monograph into four parts (folklore-influenced fairy tales, diary and calendar fairy tales, lyricized and rhythmic fairy tales, humor and nonsense fairy tales) tends to be more orientational and approximate thanks to the mixing of different literary genres.

This innovative work challenges normative binaries in contemporary translation studies and applies frameworks from queer historiography to the discipline in order to explore shifting perceptions of same-sex love and desire in translations and retranslations of William Shakespeare's Sonnets.The book brings together perspectives from poststructuralism, queer theory, and translation history to set the stage for an in-depth exploration of a series of retranslations of the Sonnets from the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The complex and poetic language of the Sonnets, frequently built around era-specific idioms and allusions, has produced a number of different interpretations of the work over the centuries, but questions remain as to how the translation process may omit, retain, or enhance elements of same-sex love in retranslated works across time and geographical borders. In focusing on target cultures which experienced dramatic sociopolitical changes over the course of the twentieth century and comparing retranslations originating from these contexts, Spišiaková finds the ideal backdrop in which to draw parallels between changing developments in power and social structures and shifting translation strategies related to the representation of gender identities and sexual orientations beyond what is perceived to be normative.In so doing, the book advocates for a queer perspective on the study of translation history and encourages questioning traditional boundaries prevalent in the discipline, making this key reading for students and researchers in translation studies, queer theory, and gender studies, as well as those interested in historical developments in Central and Eastern Europe.The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons [Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND)] 4.0 license.

Kniha Josefa Hrdličky otevírá otázku, co je exilová poezie a zda představuje podobně významnou oblast jako milostná či přírodní lyrika. Složitý a proměnlivý fenomén exilu sleduje na příkladech literárních textů od antiky do současnosti a na pozadí historické poetiky exilu se zabývá českými básníky, kteří odešli ze své země po roce 1948 a výrazně se podíleli na literatuře psané v zahraničí. Na básních Ivana Blatného, Milady Součkové, Ivana Diviše či Petra Krále ukazuje kontinuitu i proměny západní tradice a obraznosti exilu.

Kniha českému čtenáři poprvé podrobně představuje osobnost a autorský styl Johna Donna, vedle Shakespeara nejvýznamnějšího anglického lyrika přelomu 16. a 17. století, jehož dílo bylo navíc ve 20. století pozoruhodně vlivné i mimo kontext jeho domovské anglické literatury. Mapuje příčiny Donnovy přitažlivosti pro moderní básníky a kritiky včetně těch českých a zkoumá typické způsoby jeho metaforického myšlení a schopnost jeho poezie kombinovat dramatickou bezprostřednost a citovost s důmyslnou intelektuální hrou. Podrobné srovnávací analýzy českých překladů Donnovy světské a duchovní lyriky se zamýšlejí nad základními problémy převodu Donnova stylu do češtiny, charakterizují rozdílné přístupy šesti českých překladatelů k Donnovým textům a zejména přinášejí zhodnocení překladatelské koncepce dvou nejvýznamnějších z nich, Hany Žantovské a Zdeňka Hrona.

“Writing Minervas” – that is how Libuše Heczková refers to Czech women literary critics at the turn of the 20th century. She focuses especially on the critic and feminist Eliška Krásnohorská and on those who followed in her steps – Teréza Nováková, Žofie Pohorecká, Pavla Buzková, and other literary personalities like Anna Pammrová or Artuš Drtil. She also traces the destinies of Czech emancipation magazines in which such literary critique flourished: Ženské listy, Ženský svět, Ženská revue, Ženský obzor and Ženské směry. She attempts to clarify the circumstances under which women entered this – as certain period statements called it – “unfeminine” literary discipline. The activities of the “Writing Minervas” thus radically cast in to doubt the “physiological feeble-mindedness” attributed to women at that time.

This study deals with the topic of verse translation from the Spanish to the Czech language and is focused on a comparison between the original and the translated verse. The objective is to examine the verse of Calderón's polymetric plays, to compare the Spanish and Czech versification systems and to analyse the strategies of Czech translators. The main part is a comparative versological study based on the statistical methods of analysis. In the las chapter it is possible to observe how the modifications of Czech directors affect the polymetry of the translation.

Analýza bibliografického korpusu francouzsky psaných beletristických knih, které vyšly v českých překladech v rozmezí let 1989 až 2013, ukazuje některé známé skutečnosti, ale i nečekané zajímavé detaily. Snaží se najít odpovědi na otázky typu: Jak známe francouzskou literaturu? Čeho si na ní ceníme? Máme možnost si česky přečíst všechny důležité knihy francouzských autorů? Zdá se, že čeští čtenáři vyhledávají především dobrodružné příběhy, ať už jim je poskytují romány z 19. století, anebo díla současná. Literatura s komerčním potenciálem převažuje – ale jak se daří nakladatelům odhadnout, které knihy půjdou na odbyt? Nestačí vsadit na to, že se kniha stala bestsellerem ve Francii. Obecně se vyplatí vydávat tituly napsané na základě historických událostí, společenské romány, detektivky nebo sci-fi. Na řadu ovšem přicházejí i erotické novely autorů jako Apollinaire nebo Musset, popřípadě Simenon, pro hloubavější povahy raději Malý Princ. Absolutní „francouzskou jedničkou“ je však u nás dlouhodobě Jules Verne.

The book summarises the basic principles as well as main tendencies within the medieval lyric genre Minnesang – both in its German version, investigating its individual evolutionary phases, and in later appearing old Czech love poetry of high Middle ages. Moreover, the author of this comparative study Sylvie Stanovská applies her findings to younger German love poetry before 1500 as well so she gains a broad analytical basis, pursuant to which she constructs a novel, with numerous text examples supported typology of the old Czech love poetry. This typology can thus lead to further research of this genre.

The best works of fantasy tell stories about our world, about human consciousness and its boundaries. Their shift beyond the limits of the natural world and space-time allows a direct, clearer, and larger perspective. Through symbols, metaphors, and allegory, fantasy tackles universal issues and problems of our world. However, fantasy is a priori criticized as trivial, escapist literature not worthy of the time of a picky reader. As such, it is often relegated to the sidelines and gets only limited feedback. The ambition of this study is therefore to initiate a broader discussion about the phenomenon of fantasy literature and to draw attention to the issue of its reflection.

Old Bohemian love poetry stands at the end of a long tradition of medieval love lyric poetry in national languages. This tradition has shaped the overall European literature: it continues from Petrarch until now – although reformed and altered several times. The authors of the book present all texts of old Bohemian love poetry known so far from the beginnings of the genre in the 13th and 14th century to the 15th century. Love poems are provided with commentary; and unlike the previous editions the reader will find a comparison of old Czech lyrical texts with texts from German-speaking countries from the same period. Let's emphasize that the old Bohemian love poetry combines poetic patterns of literatures from various periods; its testimony and value is thus extremely important.

In this monograph, the works of twelve significant writers, six Russian (Abbot Daniil, Ioann Lukyanov, Abraham Norov, N. V. Gogol, Ivan Bunin, and Andrei Bely) and six Czech ones (Martin Kabátník, Jan Hasištejnský, Oldřich Prefát, Václav Vratislav, Kryštof Harant, and Jan Neruda) have been analysed and presented in a wider European context. The comparison of the opposite sides of the church schism has discovered not only differences, but also common features of Russian and Czech pilgrimages and their goals. Much attention is paid to the comparison of myths and reality of the pilgrimages and to illustrations used by some authors (Prefát, Norov) and made by one of them (Harant). The book is supplemented by rich visual materials.

The present collection, divided into three thematic sections, includes twenty-one studies on the history of the University of Prague from its foundation in 1348 to the 16th century. The first section is devoted to the birth of the university, its first institutions, the growth of the earliest colleges and the victory of the Reformist party. The second part concentrates on the curriculum, examinations, graduations and annual disputations of the Faculty of Liberal Arts. Section three deals with university polemics about universalia realia, mainly in relation to the scholarly and literary activity of Jerome of Prague (+ 1416).

On the centennial of the Czechs gaining their independence, award-winning Czech journalist Karel Hvížďala and Cardiff-based philosopher of law Jiří Přibán used the occasion to examine key moments in Czech history from the ninth century to the twenty-first. Covering such a broad scope allows the authors to look into the past and question how Czechs have viewed their history at different points – and what that means for the present and future. Employing the form of a dialogue, Hvížďala and Přibán raise and explore issues for the broader public that are normally reserved for university seminars, or avoided completely. “It's an interesting book because simply by considering the ideas the authors of In Quest of History put forth, the reader loses his certainty of what is true and what is the common consensus – he becomes an individual.” – Milan Kundera, author of The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Testaments Betrayed, and The Festival of Insignificance “This contemplation by two Czech intellectuals of Czech history, ‘the national narrative,'collective memory, and contemporary politics should be mandatory reading for understanding the deeper context of our current crisis.” – Jacques Rupnik, professor of political science at Sciences Po “Two men who are as European as they are Czech raise a question – Where are we headed? In answering, they deliver a solid classic. What an inspiring dialogue!” – Petr Pithart, Czech politician and signatory of Charter 77

A History of the Czech Lands is the first in English systematic examination of Czech history from its prehistoric origins to the establishment of the Czech Republic and its admission to the European Union. Although the Czech Republic is a young country, this land boasts a rich and ancient history. In this book, Jaroslav Pánek and Oldřich Tůma – along with leading scholars from the Czech Academy of Sciences and Charles University – trace the development of the Czech state and nation, including the important roles played by minorities living within Czech territory, especially Germans, Jews, Poles and Slovaks. This work focuses on the state's transformations – geographically (examining even the territories that briefly belonged to it) but also in terms of culture, religion, demographics and ecology. The second, enlarged edition is enriched by impressive visual documentation (133 illustrations and photos) and 16 maps of the territorial development of the Czech lands. A new final chapter examines Czech history from 1993–2004. A History of the Czech Lands is essential for scholars of Slavic, Central, and East European studies, valuable for everyone interested in the cultural history of Central Europe and a mustread for those who trace their ancestry to this area.

This book presents T. G. Masaryk's efforts to shape the identity of a small nation in late the 19th and early 20th century. It features contributions from leading Czech scholars who analyse Masaryk's efforts 120 years later. Masaryk is considered the most important figure in modern Czech history. Drawing on the ideas of his ideological predecessors and humanists, he wanted to integrate the Czech nation into the family of advanced world nations in line with international intellectual trends. Masaryk was the first in world history to fulfil the Platonic ideal of a philosopher who founded a state.

In this chronicle of a fascinating people, Hugh Agnew offers a single-volume survey of Czech history, providing an introduction to its major themes and contours. Agnew presents a detailed chronology of the region, from prehistory and the first Slavs to the Czech Republic's entrance into the European Union. Taking into account both Western and Marxist insights—as well as the input of the newest generation of Czech historians—he furnishes a comprehensive fusion of three different aspects of Czech history: a political-diplomatic view, a social-economic view, and a cultural-intellectual view.

'Jandečková pulls back the curtain to give us a glimpse of the inner workings of Communist Czechoslovakia's secret police in connection both with the false border operation ‘Kamen'and the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of Foreign Minister Jan Masaryk. A fascinating study that enhances our understanding of this tragic period.'James R. Felak, University of Washington'Václava Jandečková's text is based on a great variety of sources, which are thoroughly and resourcefully interrogated and clearly presented. It is in two parts: the first investigates the Communist Czechoslovak security police operation to flush out potential “troublemakers” by luring them to a false frontier on the pretence of organising their escape to West Germany. The second is a searching re-examination of the murder of Foreign Minister Jan Masaryk in March 1948. The author has long experience with security police archives and brings together material never before presented in a joint analysis. The text will be very valuable to all who are interested in the operations of Soviet-style authorities and in secret police methods generally.'Geoffrey Hosking, Emeritus Professor of Russian History, School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London'With this book Václava Jandečková emerges as a star among historians of Cold War intelligence operations. Combing her analytical skills with deep understanding of Czech history, she has mapped out the scandalous Operation KAMEN and its many dimensions in astonishing detail. This study is a meticulously researched and convincingly argued masterpiece. It is also immensely readable and full of fascinating depictions of the personalities involved. It is a marvelous piece of work, a major contribution to our understanding of the early postwar years of the Cold War. I can't recommend it highly enough.'Igor Lukes, Pardee School of Global Studies, Boston University Václava Jandečková is an independent researcher, a co-founder of the Association for Research of Communist Crimes, member of the International PEN Club (Czech Centre) and a graduate in international relations.

This book examines the most important Czech women philosophers and scientists. It highlights the lives and achievements of a group that has often not received the recognition they deserve. Chapters provide a systematic description and critical evaluation of the impact these women had on the history of philosophy and science. After an opening chapter on the status of women philosophers and scientists in the period before 1820, the book explores the role women played in the 19th century rise of Czech culture (Czech National Revival). The following chapter then introduces the situation of Czech women philosophers and scientists in the 20th century. The authors base the material on analysis of key works and the characteristics of contemporary debates in which these women participated. The volume describes the complex conditions of women in Czech history in relation to the position of learned women in other European countries. The authors also emphasize their link tothe historical background. This encompassing coverage helps provide readers with a richer understanding of these important women and the period in which they lived. Academicians and the general public alike will also learn about the political and social limitations these women faced and the influence of historical conditions on their work.

Jan Valerián Jirsík (1798–1883) is generally considered to be a well-known figure of Czech history. He is renowned as a priest, theologian, active nationalist, supporter of the education system, pedagogue and, not insignificantly, the fourth bishop of České Budějovice / Budweis (1851–1883) as well as a participant at the First Vatican Council (1869–1870). The intention of this book is a modern interpretation of the life and theological work of Jan Valerián Jirsík, not only in connection with the results of existing historical and theological research but especially in the context of socio-cultural changes within the Middle European area of his time.

When Masaryk University was first established, the disciplines related to historical study were most strongly represented. This year's 100th anniversary of the founding of Masaryk University offered a unique opportunity to look back on the changes that these fields of historical study have undergone in the university's first century. Over time, they gradually separated from the history seminary, and other seminaries and institutes were established which were closely connected to history and its processes, such as those pertaining to the history of art, archaeology, museology, archival and auxiliary historical sciences, and ethnology. The authors of this publication endeavoured to answer questions concerning the significance of these Brno seminaries for the history of science and learning in both domestic and international contexts, the personalities who emerged in Brno, and what external influences were at work in the creation of fields of history as institutions at Masaryk University Faculty of Arts. The publication is divided into three parts: Institutional Development; Personalities; and Traditions, Innovations and Projects. It is from this perspective that the authors look at the development of today's Department of History, the Department of the History of Art, the Department of Auxiliary Historical Sciences and Archive Studies, the Department of European Ethnology and the Department of Archaeology and Museology throughout the twists and turns of Czech history from the founding of independent Czechoslovakia to the present day.

This book takes a new approach to interwar Prague by addressing religion as an integral part of the city's cultural history. Berglund views Prague's cultural history in the broader context of religious change and secularization in 20th-century Europe. Based on detailed knowledge of sources, the monograph explores the interdisciplinary linkages between politics, architecture and theology in the building of symbolism and a'new mythology'of the first Czechoslovak republic (1918-1938). Berglunds text provides an important service for understanding both Czech history as well as current Czech political debate. The author's method can be characterized as culture history, able to connect several disciplines, emphasizing common topic (religion, politics, symbolics). Modern Czech elites, superficially characterized as'ateistic', appears in a new light to be deeply religious, a transition from more traditional, (mostly) Catholic religiosity, to a concept of a new, modern, ethical religion. The study incorporates biographical research, focusing on three principal characters: Tomás Garrigue Masaryk, Czechoslovakia's first president; his daughter Alice Garrigue Masaryková, founding director of the Czechoslovak Red Cross; and Joze Plecnik, the Slovenian architect who directed the renovations of Prague Castle.

The snow is thick, the phone line is down, and no one is getting in or out of Warbeck Hall. With friends and family gathered round the fire, all should be set for a perfect Christmas, but as the bells chime midnight, a mysterious murder takes place. Who can be responsible? The scorned young lover? The lord's passed-over cousin? The social climbing politician's wife? The Czech history professor? The obsequious butler? And perhaps the real question is: can any of them survive long enough to tell the tale?

Addresses the ways that theatre both shapes cross-cultural dialogue and is itself, in turn, shaped by those forces. Globalization may strike many as a phenomenon of our own historical moment, but it is truly as old as civilization: we need only look to the ancient Silk Road linking the Far East to the Mediterranean in order to find some of the earliest recorded impacts of people and goods crossing borders. Yet, in the current cultural moment, tensions are high due to increased migration, economic unpredictability, complicated acts of local and global terror, and heightened political divisions all over the world. Thus globalization seems new and a threat to our ways of life, to our nations, and to our cultures. In what ways have theatre practitioners, educators, and scholars worked to support cross-cultural dialogue historically? And in what ways might theatre embrace the complexities and contradictions inherent in any meaningful exchange? The essays in Theatre Symposium, Volume 25 reflect on these questions. Featured in Theatre Symposium, Volume 25 “Theatre as Cultural Exchange: Stages and Studios of Learning” by Anita Gonzalez “Certain Kinds of Dances Used among Them: An Initial Inquiry into Colonial Spanish Encounters with the Areytos of the Taíno in Puerto Rico” by E. Bert Wallace “Gertrude Hoffmann's Lawful Piracy: ‘A Vision of Salome'and the Russian Season as Transatlantic Production Impersonations” by Sunny Stalter-Pace “Greasing the Global: Princess Lotus Blossom and the Fabrication of the ‘Orient'to Pitch Products in the American Medicine Show” by Chase Bringardner “Dismembering Tennessee Williams: The Global Context of Lee Breuer's A Streetcar Named Desire” by Daniel Ciba “Transformative Cross-Cultural Dialogue in Prague: Americans Creating Czech History Plays” by Karen Berman “Finding Common Ground: Lessac Training across Cultures” by Erica Tobolski and Deborah A. Kinghorn

Power and Exploitation in the Czech Lands in the 10th-12th Centuries: A Central European Perspective offers a unique analysis of the history of early medieval Czech society. It draws new attention to the role of serfdom and slavery in the early period of the Přemyslid dynasty in the Czech lands, and the organization of land and property access and ownership. The provocative conclusions reached by the author in this study shed new light on the oldest period of Czech history. Petráček analyses these issues comparatively, also taking into account Poland and Hungary; this is an approach unique to this book.

The Velvet Revolution in November 1989 brought about the collapse of the authoritarian communist regime in what was then Czechoslovakia, marking the beginning of the country's journey towards democracy. Though members of the elite have spoken about the transition to democracy, the experiences of ordinary people have largely gone untold. In Velvet Revolutions, Miroslav Vanek and Pavel Mücke examine the values of everyday citizens who lived under so-called real socialism, as well as how their values changed after the 1989 collapse. Based on 300 interviews, Vanek and Mücke give voice to everyone from farmers to managers, service workers to marketing personnel, manual laborers to members of the armed forces. Compelling and diverse, the oral histories touch upon the experience - and absence - of freedom, the value of family and friends, the experience of free time, and perceptions of foreign nations. Data from opinion polls conducted between 1970 and 2013 factor into the book's analysis, creating a well-rounded view of the ways in which popular thoughts, trends, and attitudes changed as Czech society transitioned from communism to democracy. From this rich foundation, Velvet Revolutions builds a multi-layered view of Czech history before 1989 and during the subsequent period of democratic transformation.

The publication celebrates the 90th anniversary of the Masaryk University. The Masaryk University is a unique case in the history of tertiary education in 20th century. The history of this institution is a long consecution of efforts to obtain a right to exist, a struggle for continuity of academic research, and a fight against undemocratic regimes. On the other hand this is a testimony of stubborn willpower to overcome difficulties, of ideals and ethos of a European university tradition. The book has two objectives: to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the Masaryk University and to open a debate about traditions, conditions, and perspectives of tertiary education in modern Czech history. It aims at readers from the Masaryk University, Brno, and Moravia to commemorate both the glorious and the dark side of the history of our alma mater. The authors also wanted to contribute to the debate about the place of a university in the society, about metamorphoses of science, tertiary education, and university culture in dramatic and totalitarian moments of the 20th century in Czech Republic and Europe.

The story of modernity told through a cultural history of twentieth-century PragueSetting out to recover the roots of modernity in the boulevards, interiors, and arcades of the'city of light,'Walter Benjamin dubbed Paris'the capital of the nineteenth century.'In this eagerly anticipated sequel to his acclaimed Coasts of Bohemia: A Czech History, Derek Sayer argues that Prague could well be seen as the capital of the much darker twentieth century. Ranging across twentieth-century Prague's astonishingly vibrant and always surprising human landscape, this richly illustrated cultural history describes how the city has experienced (and suffered) more ways of being modern than perhaps any other metropolis.Located at the crossroads of struggles between democratic, communist, and fascist visions of the modern world, twentieth-century Prague witnessed revolutions and invasions, national liberation and ethnic cleansing, the Holocaust, show trials, and snuffed-out dreams of'socialism with a human face.'Yet between the wars, when Prague was the capital of Europe's most easterly parliamentary democracy, it was also a hotbed of artistic and architectural modernism, and a center of surrealism second only to Paris.Focusing on these years, Sayer explores Prague's spectacular modern buildings, monuments, paintings, books, films, operas, exhibitions, and much more. A place where the utopian fantasies of the century repeatedly unraveled, Prague was tailor-made for surrealist André Breton's'black humor,'and Sayer discusses the way the city produced unrivaled connoisseurs of grim comedy, from Franz Kafka and Jaroslav Hasek to Milan Kundera and Václav Havel. A masterful and unforgettable account of a city where an idling flaneur could just as easily be a secret policeman, this book vividly shows why Prague can teach us so much about the twentieth century and what made us who we are.

The objective of the authors of this collective monograph was to investigate the essential experience and relations of Czech and Latvian societies in the 20th century. In the first half of the book, we have focused on Latvia's general history, partly in comparison with Czech history. Already the introductory theses by Igvars Butulis indicate both common features and differences between our respective histories. One of the differences is the authoritarian, albeit non-violent regime of Kārlis Ulmanis in the thirties which was ended by the first Soviet occupation in 1940–1941. It was so drastic that the traditional enemies, the Germans, were, at least initially, often greeted as liberators. The second, post-war, Soviet occupation during the Stalinist regime continued its brutal policy; again, there were deportations to Siberia and guerilla resistance took place on Latvian territory. Later, also in Latvia, there was a failed attempt to reform socialism (although to a lesser extent than in Czechoslovakia) and the whole epoch was also concluded by a non-violent revolution: in the Baltic case by a “singing” one. Luboš Švec focuses on the circumstances under which the first Latvian State was created (in 1918) and recognized by Czechoslovakia. He describes Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk's contacts with Latvian exiles during World War I and his views on the situation in the Baltic states whose future he at first connected with the Russian democratic federative republic. Finally, recognition took place, with Masaryk's support, only on 29th December 1921. In his chapter, Ēriks Jēkabsons continues with a thorough overview of interwar materials on Czechoslovakia in Latvian archives which can be an excellent guide for future researchers of the history of diplomatic, political, economic, military and cultural Czech-Latvian relations. Inesis Feldmanis brings a new concept of reflection on Latvian participation in World War II which opposes the rooted “version of the winners” that ignores the international and war crimes of the Soviet Union. The historian emphasizes the idea of two paradigms of evil, communism and Nazism, and describes the then view of Latvian society as “hostility toward the Germans and fear of the Russians”. The historian also proposes to use, as the main criterion for the controversial distinction between resistance and collaboration, the relation to the renewal of the pre-war, not Soviet, Latvia. Antonijs Zunda describes the complicated international position of the Baltic States after World War II. The annexation of these states has always been condemned by the United States but less consistently by Great Britain and many other western states. The first of the western countries which recognized the independence of the Baltic States in 1991 was Iceland. Ilgvars Butulis then describes the failed attempt to establish so-called national communism, or “socialism with a Latvian face” in the second half of the fifties which aimed to promote the interests of the republic within the Soviet Union, the reinforcement of the Latvian element in the ruling circles and in the society, the democratization of the Stalinist model of socialism and the removal of conservative Communist Party members. Jiří Kocian deals with the situation in Czechoslovakia and Central Europe in the crucial few years after World War II. Power relations after World War II predetermined that Czechoslovakia would be in the sovereign territorial sphere of influence of the Soviet Union whose “bolshevization” plans were underestimated in our country. From February 1948, Czechoslovakia became a full-fledged part of the Soviet bloc although it formally did not lose its independence the way the Baltic countries did. Related to this are also the different issues of ethnic minorities in Czechoslovakia and in Latvia, which is the topic analyzed by Helena Nosková. Unlike our country, where the original percentage of ethnic minoritie

This History presents a broad canvas of post-war Czech literary developments within the cultural and political context of the times. Information is provided about the many English-language translations from Czech literature, and the circumstances in which these translations came about. Analysis is by way of quoting from original Czech works, especially poetry, with English translation.'Profiles of the Most Important Czech Writers since 1945'gives biographical and bibliographical details about the most important post-war Czech writers, and links to secondary literature in English. The volume also includes a bibliographical list of the most important works in English on Czech history, literary history and politics, as well as a list of anthologies of Czech post-war literature in English. Originally published in Czech, this English translation has been entirely re-worked, taking the needs of the English-speaking reader and student into consideration.'Writers Under Siege'is intended for all readers interested in or studying the literatures and cultures of Central Europe. It is essential reading for students of Czech and Slavonic Studies.

A keen observer of culture, Czech writer Vladimír Macura (1945–99) devoted a lifetime to illuminating the myths that defined his nation. The Mystifications of a Nation, the first book-length translation of Macura's work in English, offers essays deftly analyzing a variety of cultural phenomena that originate, Macura argues, in the “big bang” of the nineteenth-century Czech National Revival, with its celebration of a uniquely Czech identity. In reflections on two centuries of Czech history, he ponders the symbolism in daily life. Bridges, for example—once a force of civilization connecting diverse peoples—became a sign of destruction in World War I. Turning to the Soviet and post-Soviet eras, Macura probes a range of richly symbolic practices, from the naming of the Prague metro system, to the mass gymnastic displays of the Communist period, to post–Velvet Revolution preoccupations with the national anthem. In “The Potato Bug,” he muses on one of the stranger moments in the Cold War—the claim that the United States was deliberately dropping insects from airplanes to wreak havoc on the crops of Czechoslovakia. While attending to the distinctively Czech elements of such phenomena, Macura reveals the larger patterns of Soviet-brand socialism. “We were its cocreators,” he declares, “and its analysis touches us as a scalpel turned on its own body.” Writing with erudition, irony, and wit, Macura turns the scalpel on the authoritarian state around him, demythologizing its mythology.

In The Winter's Tale, Shakespeare gave the landlocked country of Bohemia a coastline—a famous and, to Czechs, typical example of foreigners'ignorance of the Czech homeland. Although the lands that were once the Kingdom of Bohemia lie at the heart of Europe, Czechs are usually encountered only in the margins of other people's stories. In The Coasts of Bohemia, Derek Sayer reverses this perspective. He presents a comprehensive and long-needed history of the Czech people that is also a remarkably original history of modern Europe, told from its uneasy center.Sayer shows that Bohemia has long been a theater of European conflict. It has been a cradle of Protestantism and a bulwark of the Counter-Reformation; an Austrian imperial province and a proudly Slavic national state; the most easterly democracy in Europe; and a westerly outlier of the Soviet bloc. The complexities of its location have given rise to profound (and often profoundly comic) reflections on the modern condition. Franz Kafka, Jaroslav Hasek, Karel Capek and Milan Kundera are all products of its spirit of place. Sayer describes how Bohemia's ambiguities and contradictions are those of Europe itself, and he considers the ironies of viewing Europe, the West, and modernity from the vantage point of a country that has been too often ignored.The Coasts of Bohemia draws on an enormous array of literary, musical, visual, and documentary sources ranging from banknotes to statues, museum displays to school textbooks, funeral orations to operatic stage-sets, murals in subway stations to censors'indexes of banned books. It brings us into intimate contact with the ever changing details of daily life—the street names and facades of buildings, the heroes figured on postage stamps—that have created and recreated a sense of what it is to be Czech. Sayer's sustained concern with questions of identity, memory, and power place the book at the heart of contemporary intellectual debate. It is an extraordinary story, beautifully told.

Reimagining Europe comprises a series of contributions which address, in various ways, the relationship between Europe and continental philosophy/phenomenology. Europe is in crisis: a crisis that no longer designates a moment of decision, a critical point between a before and an after, but a state, a permanent mode of being, a constant emergency. At this juncture of Europe, the aporia of language confronts the aporia of history. We cannot speak, we must speak, we shall speak. As such, the contributions all engage with the idea that the question'what is Europe?'must measure up a series of questions, namely: what was it to be? What does it mean to initiate and sustain a project, such as Europe, if only at times, after the fact? The questions of internal and external borders, of homogeneity and coherence, identity and equality, legitimacy and rights, democracy and representation can only be raised insofar as the question of Europe, its destiny, and destination, is raised as a whole.

No Church is monolithic—this is the preliminary premise of this volume on the public place of religion in a representative number of post-communist countries. The studies confirm that within any religious organization we can expect to find fissures, factions, theological or ideological quarrels, and perhaps even competing interest groups, such as missionary workers, regular clergy versus secular clergy, and sometimes even competing ecclesiastical hierarchies. The main focus of the book rests on the divisions arising within select Christian Churches, as they confront the processes of secularization and atheization. The coverage area includes Russia and the Ukraine, East-Central Europe and South-Eastern Europe. Some chapters focus on individual clergy who challenge the mainstream of their given Church either from a more liberal or from a more conservative perspective, while others deal with the divisive forces impacting the religious organizations. This festschrift to honor Sabrina Ramet's seminal contribution to the study of religion in the politics of the communist and post-communist world, brings together several generations of scholars from a variety of countries, both those well established in their fields of study as well as young promising academics.

This book explores how actors practise sovereignty as a force in a multiscalar context.Among the various power structures that perform sovereignty, such as the head of state, a legislative body, or the military, one aspect is clear: the practice of sovereignty relies upon people at multiple levels - better portrayed as scales - of authority. This book focuses on actors – the people who bring sovereignty to life, who imbue it with meaning, and who are ultimately responsible for its practice. With that perspective, the volume interprets various case studies, such as Russian approaches to sovereignty in its leadership and Central Bank, Scottish parties'discourses, and NATO command structures. Beyond those contexts, the work also examines Chinese digital platforms, criminal gangs in Latin America, Polish and Czech nationalist movements, want-to-be states in Kurdistan-Iraq and Abkhazia, and Polish video games – together, these examples demonstrate how actors practise sovereignty in unity with, but also in place of, the state. As proof of concept, the authors further examine how they, as researchers, also qualify as practitioners of sovereignty. In a concluding three-chapter section, they reflexively explore how research methods and disciplines of study actively shape sovereignty and how the latter defines the outer limits of scholarly research.This book will be of interest to students of statehood, sovereignty, discourse analysis, history, political science, sociology, and international relations.The Introduction of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

Modern Czech culture has experienced a series of political traumas starting in the 1930s. Despite the difficult, shifting conditions, Czech writers have not only managed to contend with the situation, but have produced many fine literary efforts. This volume consists of seven articles by an international team of authors who are specialists in Czech literature. The first four chapters treat very well-known writers. There is one chapter on Karel Čapek and his play'The White Plague.'There are three chapters on Milan Kundera, the internationally best-known Czech writer, with one of these chapters covering both Kundera and Bohumil Hrabal. The last three chapters deal with more recent and/or lesser-known writers. One chapter treats the Brothers Topol and the music underground, one chapter treats Czech literary responses to the period of the Normalization, and the final chapter treats Eda Kriseová. This volume presents new perspectives on Czech literature and will be of interest to specialists in Czech literature and history, Central European literature and history, Nazism and Communism. For example, although much has been written about Kundera, the three articles provide further treatments of three different aspects of his work: his ties to Russian literature, his misogyny, and the philosophical content of his novels. Specialists interested in the period of the Normalization (and after) will find the last three chapters particularly useful. The chapters are suitable for classroom use in courses in both Czech literature and Czech (or Central European) history. All material from Czech-language sources presented in the chapters is given in English translation.

The Czechoslovak academic discipline called ‘Ethnography and Folklore Studies'was impacted and influenced by the daily realities of state socialism in 1969–1989. This book examines the role of the planned economy, Marxist–Leninist ideology, disciplinary hierarchies and clientelist networks, ultimately showing how state socialist features together brought about the discipline's epistemic stalling. It offers a fresh perspective on the long-standing debates purporting to capture the differences between the Central and Eastern European tradition of ethnology and Western sociocultural anthropology.

For the last 30 years the Symposium on Elementary Mathematics Teaching (SEMT) has provided cutting edge excellence in research in elementary school mathematics education. From this wealth of material this book encapsulates the trends and explores how its plenary and research papers engage with more general research for the wider mathematics education community. Trends across time are exposed and investigated while aspects of research into elementary mathematics teaching and learning are particular foci. With a diverse and truly global list of outstanding authors, this book grounds the presentations of SEMT in current practices world-wide. Each chapter features worked examples, case studies, activities, as well as a wealth of references on all topics canvassed by the authors. Furthermore each chapter is embedded within its historical setting. Together this book is an outstanding contribution to the literature on elementary mathematics education.

Revisiting Russian Radicals is a collection of ten articles that seeks to promote a revisitation of the Russian Radicals who have been somewhat unjustly forgotten in the aftermath of the fall of the Soviet Union. Rather than viewing the radicals through the lens of the 1917 October Revolution, the authors seek to analyze them on their own terms and explore new aspects of their legacy. The chapters provide a fresh look at some well-known radicals like Chernyshevsky, Dobrolyubov, and Pisarev as well as examinations of lesser-known figures, and offer an interdisciplinary approach to their investigations, combining historical and literary analysis. A lengthy introduction is included for those who are non-Slavists, and for the newer generation of Slavists who may not be as familiar with these figures.

This book analyses the evolving nature of democratic threats and identifies strategies necessary to safeguard democratic governance in an increasingly turbulent political environment.It explores how democratic systems in Europe have faced, and continue to face, threats from various entities that exhibit essential characteristics of being enemies of democracy, including fascism, Nazism, authoritarianism, and modern forms of populism and external interference. Through detailed case studies, the book examines the tactics used by enemies of democracy to undermine the sovereignty of political nations, from the rise of totalitarian regimes in the twentieth century to contemporary challenges like Russia's democratic decline and hybrid warfare tactics in Poland and Estonia. It also highlights how certain democracies have successfully resisted these threats, offering valuable lessons for protecting democratic values and institutions in today's world. Going beyond historical analysis, the book provides a comprehensive theoretical framework for understanding and categorising the enemies of democracy, transforming the concept from a normative idea into a powerful analytical tool.This book will be of key interest to scholars and students of European history and politics, political theory, democracy, political systems, political philosophy, and comparative politics.

This collection of essays offers crucial and luminous insights into one of the best-known Czech authors, Milan Kundera, including his lesser known works. With essays that focus on Kundera's poetry and plays, his last four novels written in French, and his nonfiction writings on the novelistic form and translation, Milan Kundera Known and Unknown explores the complex and productive career of this globally recognized author. The approach begins by examining Kundera's distinctive literary style, and then how his voice radiated outward from the small communist country of Czechoslovakia to the world. Starting as a poet and playwright, Kundera transcended the Czech literary scene and rose to global prominence with his novelistic style of variations, paradoxes, humor, and clairvoyance into human relationships mixed with political tensions. His multi-dimensional existential topics introduced complex novelistic characters that have reached a large audience and remain evocative. Kundera also critically commented on creative works – his own and of others – thus contributing a unique approach to a specific aesthetic ideal and within the masterworks of world-renowned authors. Chapters on Kundera's aesthetics and form, his philosophical leanings, his relationship to the burgeoning concept of “world literature,” and translations of his writings offer new perspectives on his life's work. These insights shed light on Kundera's understudied works, such as his early poetry and his recent French novels, making connections between his early and later writing, and cementing his literary legacy for English-language audiences.

This book explores the representations of Central and Eastern European histories in digital games.Focusing on games that examine a range of national histories and heritages from across Central and Eastern Europe, the volume looks beyond the diversity of the local histories depicted in games, and the audience reception of these histories, to show a diversity of approaches which can be used in examining historical games – from postcolonialism to identity politics to heritage studies. The book includes chapters on Serbia, Poland, Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, Hungary, Estonia, Slovakia, Czechia, Finland, and (a Western guest with regional connections) Luxembourg. Through the lens of video games, the authors address how nations struggle with the legacies of war, colonialism, and religious strife that have been a part of nation-building - but also how victimized cultures can survive, resist, and sometimes prevail.Appealing primarily to scholars in the fields of game studies, heritage studies, postcolonial criticism, and media studies, this book will be particularly useful for the subfields of historical game studies and postcolonial game studies.

Around a century has passed since the political events of the post-World War I period took place and a wealth of publications has been issued on the topic. However, we can firmly state that this subject is still open to further research. This volume offers a multitude of perspectives on Europe's political establishments in the early 1920s. It offers new insights into this crucial point in twentieth-century history from the perspectives of the Great Powers, the small countries, the winners, the losers and the neutral parties. Many of the studies contained within are on topics that are completely new to the field and will have a profound impact on the historical literature.

Anger is one of the basic emotions of human emotional experience, informing and guiding many of our choices and actions. Although it has received considerable scholarly attention in a number of disciplines, including linguistics, a basic question has still remained unresolved: why do variations in the folk model of anger exist across languages if it is indeed a basic emotion rooted in largely universal bodily experience? By drawing on a wide selection of comparable linguistic data from dozens of languages (including a number of less-researched languages), this volume provides the most comprehensive account of what is universal and what is variable in the folk model of anger – and why. It also investigates the role that metonymies might play in the emergence of anger-related metaphors and in what ways context influences or shapes anger metaphors and thereby the resulting folk model of anger. No such volume exists in the (cognitive) linguistic literature on anger – or on emotions for that matter. The book is thus an essential contribution to the study of anger and will serve as basic reading for any researcher interested in how the conceptualization of anger is constructed via the interplay of bodily experience, language and the larger cultural context.

Established in 1918, as a new state the First Czechoslovak Republic was keen to project a distinct image. Participation in World Fairs offered the perfect opportunity-. In this comprehensive account of Czechoslovak participation in international exhibitions of the interwar period Marta Filipová looks beyond the sleek façade of the modernist pavilions to examine the intersections of architecture, art and design with commercial interests, state agendas, individual action and the public, offering a complex insight into the production and reception of national displays. The rich collection of images – mainly photographs – provides a close look at the Czechoslovak pavilions. The design, content and context of the displays convey an idealized narrative that was created for the fairs and the myths on which the Czechoslovak nation and state were built. Heavy machinery, modern art, tourist destinations, and food and drink were presented as Czechoslovak, while many aspects of social life – particularly women or ethnic minorities – were strikingly underrepresented or absent. The book argues that the objects and ideas that the pavilion organizers put on display legitimized and validated the existence of the new state through the inclusion and exclusion of exhibits, people, and ideas. While Marta Filipová primarily focuses on Czechoslovakia, she also offers insights into how other emerging nations projected and sustained their image during this historical period and how interwar world's fairs accommodated them.