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Margaret Atwood’s Surfacing: Erasing
by Karin Hrošová In the novel Surfacing, Margaret Atwood perceptively conjures Canadian wildlife by simultaneously highlighting the over-consuming and destructive postmodern society with its frivolous dilemmas and vain endeavours. This research paper analyses the piece of fiction by focusing on an independent video recording provided by the appearing camera, generating a somewhat outsider’s point of…
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Overcoming the “Muddle”: Repression and Authenticity in E.M. Forster’s A Room with a View
by Dana Mena Cueto During the climax of Forster’s celebrated novel A Room with a View, its main character Lucy Honeychurch excuses her actions and dishonesty towards her own family by explaining to Mr. Emerson, “please not, Mr. Emerson—they trust me” to which he replies: “But why should they, when you have deceived them?” (Chapter…
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Scott Joplin’s A Guest of Honor as Legacy of Sorrow Songs
by Samuel Chalupka In February 1903, the US Copyright Office in St. Louis received this letter: Dear Sir, please find enclosed with this letter one dollar and application for coppyright [sic]. The title of the musical composition is in type writing in the blanck [sic] space on the application. Yours truly, Scott Joplin (Berlin 119)…
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United in Adversity: An Analysis of Donald Trump’s Discourse
by Erik Szabó The study was conducted before the assassination attempt against Donald Trump; therefore, this act of violence did not influence the outcome of the study. The writer condemns any act of violence committed from political or ideological deliberation. It is safe to say that the 2016 U.S. presidential elections marked a turning point…
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Kahan as a Neo-Kerouac: A Study of the American Condition with Kahan’s Music Through Eliot’s Objective Correlative
by Hannah Berger In a country of immigrants, the feeling of not belonging and the search for roots permeates the culture and manifests itself in correlatives imbedded within art. The American spirit was a condition glorified by Whitman, critiqued by the Beats and is now embraced by the folk artist Noah Kahan. Hailing from New…
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How Art Reimagines Factory Farming
by Monika Večeřová In 2014, street artist Dan Witz placed 30 arresting pieces of pig and cow heads, chicken claws and monkeys behind bars in different locations around London’s area of Shoreditch. In the street exhibition called “Empty the Cages” Witz aimed at raising awareness about animal agriculture and abuse that animals endure in factory…
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At a Cultural Crossroads: Elizabeth Siddal and Japonisme
by Paula Joneková It is somewhat surprising not to encounter the name Elizabeth Siddal while exploring the art of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. As a sought-after model captured in works such as John Everett Millais’s Ophelia and Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s Beata Beatrix, she became one of the most prominent faces of the movement. Moreover, her turbulent…
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Victoria Hislop: The Island. A Beach Book or a Source of Societal Questioning?
by Eve Filée “A society is defined by what it rejects”, asserted Michel Foucault. This sentence is perfectly illustrated in the case of Spinalonga, a Greek island located east of the Cretan coast of Elounda. This small island of barely eight hectares has become the main scene of Victoria Hislop’s novel entitled “the Island”. The…
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Fighting the Good Fight: Review of Netflix’s Grand Army
by Linda Krajčovičová “We’re still here”. “I need to do something”. “I’m marching into a battle.” The intro of Grand Army’s first episode immediately hints that the show will attempt to address more serious issues than might be expected from a TV show about teenagers. The very first scene, showing Joey, one of the protagonists,…
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A postmodern critique of relationships and gender roles in Ruben Östlund’s Triangle of Sadness
by Karin Nestešová Even if you are not a regular cinemagoer, chances are you have heard of the 2022 movie Triangle of Sadness which has been a hit not only in the European cinemas but also at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival where it has won the Palme d’Or award. This most recent satirical black…