scholarly journals ‘How it all turned out alright’: Autofiction as Memory Form in Irena Dousková’s Novels about Childhood and Youth in Post-1968 Czechoslovakia

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. RSL41-RLS65
Author(s):  
Anja Tippner

Autofictions and memoirs about growing up in late socialism have proliferated in Czech as well as in other postsocialist Eastern European literatures. These retrospective texts are often tinged with nostalgia and infused with irony and humour. Two of the most popular texts of this genre in the Czech Republic are Irena Dousková’s autofictional books Hrdý Budžes [B. Proudew] and Oněgin byl Rusák [Onegin Was a Rusky]. The Czech author writes about growing-up in a non-conformist family dealing with everyday life in socialist Czechoslovakia. After discussing Dousková’s books as autofiction the article will take a closer look at the poetics of childhood autofictions and their contribution to cultures of remembering socialism in comparison to autobiographies. It will discuss the ways how writing about childhood creates a specific socialist identity through scarcity, ingenuity, and working with/against restraints and the way humour is used to transmit difficult memories.

Economies ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Milos Maryska ◽  
Petr Doucek ◽  
Lea Nedomova ◽  
Pavel Sladek

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 52-71
Author(s):  
Nicole Horáková

The level of trust in politicians also in government institutions is taken as an indicator of the state of society in general. Various studies have shown that the population of the Central Eastern European countries, and especially the citizens of the Czech Republic, lack trust in state institutions and democratic structures. The trust of the Czech population in government institutions is, compared to other (Western) European countries, at a relatively low level. This article aims to discuss different factors that are currently influencing this lack of trust: the historical, cultural, and institutional. The empirical data for this article is based on the European Values Study and Czech surveys of public opinion concerning trust in government institutions.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Bilek ◽  
◽  
Katerina Chroustova ◽  
Jiri Rychtera ◽  
Veronika Machkova ◽  
...  

The research was focused on the teacher’s opinions about the key and critical points of the lower secondary chemistry curriculum in the Czech Republic. Through the interviews with 40 chemistry teachers from four Czech regions was gained information about what teachers named as critical topics and what as key topics in early chemistry school contents. Some problems were identified mainly with cognition overload of learners and the necessity to realize stronger connections to everyday life and forming science literacy. Keywords: chemistry teachers’ opinions, early chemistry education, key points of the curriculum, critical points of the curriculum.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 3973 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ewa Cichowicz ◽  
Ewa Rollnik-Sadowska

Pursuant to the concept of inclusive growth, the authors analyze the transition economies of Central and Eastern European countries, which have become EU members (Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia). CEE countries characterized by comparable historic and economic backgrounds now seem to reach diversified stages of development. The objective of the study is to identify the level of inclusive growth among CEE countries by taking into account indicators assigned to its seven pillars. The article’s thesis is that CEE countries represent social and economic heterogeneity as well as varied levels of sustainable development. Research methods included the application of the principal components analysis and the multivariate analysis. For a literature review, the bibliometric analysis was conducted with the visualization prepared by the VOSviewer software. The main findings suggest that Estonia, Slovenia, and the Czech Republic seem to exhibit the highest level of inclusive growth while Bulgaria and Romania represent the lowest level of indicators measured.


Author(s):  
Ewa Cichowicz ◽  
Ewa Rollnik-Sadowska

Referring to the concept of inclusive growth, the authors analyse the transition economies of the Central and Eastern European countries, which are the current EU members (Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia). That region was selected as the CEE countries characterized by comparable historic and economic background but now they seem to reach diversified stages of development. The objective of the study is to identify the level of inclusive growth among the CEE countries, taking into account indicators assigned to its seven pillars. The thesis is that the CEE countries represent socio and economic heterogeneity as well as different levels of sustainable development. The research methods involved the application of the principal components analysis and the multivariate analysis. For literature review, the bibliometric analysis was conducted with the visualization prepared by the VOSviewer software. The main findings suggest that Estonia, Slovenia and the Czech Republic seem to be the ones with the highest inclusive growth. On the other hand, Bulgaria and Romania represent the lowest level of inclusive growth indicators.


2017 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 245-256
Author(s):  
Dorota Żygadło-Czopnik

Growing up marked by trauma in Jiří Kratochvil’s, Uprostřed nocí zpěv and Magdalena Tulla’s, Włoskie szpilkiThe process of political change began in Czechoslovakia at the end of 1989, a few months after the so-called Polish Round Table Talks, and after the events in Hungary, East Germany or Bulgaria, foretelling the political transformations in those countries. Poles and Czechs are nations steeped in history, whose rhythm is defined by traumas, many of which still await their artistic disarmament. Czech history is completely different than that of Poles. As a result of the tangled history, Czech and Polish national identities are not fully defined. The key objective of the proposed paper is to examine how the contemporary Polish and Czech writers confront their totalitarian heritage. We would like to focus on the works of a Mora­vian author Jiří Kratochvil b. 1940 in Brno, who is undervalued and barely known in Poland, and of a Polish writer Magdalena Tulla b. 1955. As a matter of fact, Jiří Kratochvil was truly discovered in the Czech Republic only after November 1989.Взросление в тени исторической травмы в повести Иржи Кратохвила Uprostřed nocí zpěv и Магдалены Тулли Włoskie szpilkiПроцесс политических преобразований начался в Чехословакии в конце 1989 года, спустя несколько месяцев после польских переговоров т. наз. круглого стола и после событий  в Венгрии, ГДР или Болгарии, которые предвещали политико-режимные трансформации в этих странах. Поляки и чехи — это народы, погруженные в историю, а ее ритм в польском и чешском мышлении диктуют травмы. Многие из них еще предстоит обезвредить при помощи инструментов искусства. Чешская история во многом отличается от нашей. По причине непростой истории чешская и польская национальные идентичности не получили своего четкого определения. Основной целью предлагаемого доклада является исследование того, как современные польские и чешские писатели сводят счеты с тоталитарным наследием. Главное внимание будет уделено творчеству моравского писателя Иржи Кратохвила 1940 г.р., Брно, автора малоизвестного в Польше, а также польской писательницы Магдалены Тулли 1955 г.р.. Иржи Кратохвил и в самой Чехии приобрел признание только после ноября 1989 года.


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 28-54
Author(s):  
Zuzana Bártová

Abstract This paper contributes to the sociological theorization of religious lifestyles in consumer culture, analyzing one of its most important identity markers: style. Based on a three-year comparative ethnographic research project into five convert Buddhist organizations in France and the Czech Republic, it finds that style is expressed through aesthetics with its adornment practices apparent in everyday life materializations of Buddhist symbols. The stylistic dimension is also found in practitioners’ attitudes towards Buddhism, as they may use the discourse of taste. Moreover, Buddhist style stands for the collective, coherent, and systematic emotional patterns expressed in Buddhist symbols, individual and collective experiences, and the ethics and behavior they display in everyday life. The paper also explores how this style is adapted to the educated, middle-class, city-dweller practitioners and how it respects dynamics of consumer culture with its emphasis on identity, style, and values of well-being, authenticity, and personal development.


Author(s):  
Ewa Mazierska ◽  
Matilda Mroz ◽  
Elżbieta Ostrowska

This collection offers a series of perspectives on the bodies of Eastern European and Russian cinema, a terrain of growing scholarly interest, but one which remains under-researched, for reasons that are both general and region-specific. Our aim is not to provide a monolithic vision of how the body has been configured across this vast geographical area; it is not possible to formulate a single argument concerning the Eastern European and Russian body. Rather, the chapters put forward a series of ‘openings on the body’, to use Shildrick and Price’s terminology, in the cinemas of the region (1999: 1). The kaleidoscopic vision that emerges from these perspectives is of the body, whether individual, collective, symbolic or specific, as a nexus of often-competing forces, affects and ideologies, and as multiple and fluid. We hope that, by making corporeality our focus, we will yield new insights into the material and screen cultures of the countries under consideration: former Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Russia and former Yugoslavia. With the possible exception of Russia, the cinematic outputs of these countries are marginalised in studies of both ‘European’ and ‘world’ cinema. As Portuges and Hames point out, this is a relatively recent development: between the 1950s and 1970s, these film industries were more widely known and studied; the subsequent decline of interest has meant that ‘a generation of critics and audiences have grown up for whom the cinemas of Eastern Europe are very much unknown territory’ (2013: 3). With our focus on this region, we thus aim to foster a more inclusive vision of material and film culture.


2009 ◽  
Vol 36 (No. 4) ◽  
pp. 154-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Bulíř

Koch method of ornamental trees evaluation is based on interest paid on costs invested in tree-growing up to their maturity stage minus deductions for age, defects and damage. The aim of this paper is to apply the above mentioned method in the economic conditions of the Czech Republic. The paper presents essential economic data generated in accordance with the technological model of tree growing at a permanent site. We also describe the mechanism of the so-called base tree price calculation as a basis for the subtraction of deductions derived from its current condition. The calculated base tree prices are illustratively compared to prices based on the to-date applied calculating techniques and the relevant regulation. We also refer to the method of base price adjustment based on the criterion of landscape tree value. The mechanism of price calculation applied for Koch method testing included two modifications. The first relates to due consideration of growth qualities when calculating development care costs; the other introduces landscaping value indicator as the only base price adjustment to achieve the resulting price, corresponding with the current tree condition.


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