Magazine created by students of the Department of English and American Studies at Masaryk University.

Category archive

Views - page 3

A Corona Diary from Denmark: Two perspectives

in Views
On our way to a Covid-19 test site.

by Anna Jílková and Michaela Medveďová

 

The early months of 2020 saw the start of the global pandemic and caused an unexpected halt on life as we knew it, locking people in their homes for a good portion of the spring. But for us, the lockdown took place in our home away from home – Denmark, where we both moved to do our Master’s degrees. Both Danish society and the education process were impacted. So, how has the land of the Vikings handled 2020 so far? Keep Reading

New World – New Media: Why Not Everything Should Be in English

in Views

by Anna Jílková

Society is currently undergoing many changes. They might not be as visible as in the past; we all walk on two legs, we all live in houses, go to school, have washing machines, shop in supermarkets, and connect to the Internet. Nevertheless, they are still there. And the fact that they happen more slowly does not make them less significant. It only makes them less noticeable. One such a tendency slowly pervading our world is globalization. And what happens when globalization starts playing around with media? Let’s see…

Keep Reading

Remembering the Anglo-Irish Propaganda War

in Views

by Kristína Šefčíková

The first quarter of the 20th century embodies one of the most turbulent times of the Irish existence. In a span of just a few years, Ireland experienced an uprising, a war, a split, a civil war, and a deepening secession from the British Empire. These events were accompanied by an unprecedented amount of sovereignty which eventually led to complete independence. However, a country of 3.2 million people was unlikely to achieve freedom through a military stand against the magnitude of the Empire alone. Ireland had to find a more effective and economic solution, and so it reached for an alternative instrument – propaganda. Keep Reading

Nature – Possession or a Savior of the Human Race?

in Views

by Ľubomíra Tomášová

Photo by Ľubomíra Tomášová.

At the dawn of the 19th century, a new literary movement called transcendentalism emerged in America. It was inspired by nature and romanticism and its goal was to live in harmony with the laws of nature and feel a sense of unity with all living creatures. Ralph Waldo Emerson, at first an avid supporter of Puritanism, later a founder of transcendentalism wrote an important piece of writing called Nature where he formulates some of the most fundamental notions of this movement. Yet, 200 years later, today’s postmodern society is trapped in sieges of consumerism and is consequently facing countless issues on a global scale. Emerson’s thoughts might seem outdated and otherworldly at times, however, they also encompass some important perspectives on nature, humanity and the very essence of life. The question is whether these ideas are still relevant to a 21st-century person and capable of changing the way one thinks in a society which is constantly oversaturated with constant progress and new information.  Keep Reading

The Importance of Body in the Perception of Humanity: Ex Machina in Context

in Views

by Michaela Medveďová 

geralt, Pixabay.com, CC BY 4.0

 

During their short history on Earth, humans have been responsible for quite a number of terrible things. But they have also been the creators of many technological wonders which altered their living conditions – from something as simple as the wheel to something as complex as the Internet. However, it is safe to say that humans will truly become the masters of their own existence once they create a being with true artificial intelligence which is modelled after their own image. While it still sounds like something from a science fiction movie, with a humanoid robot Sophia becoming an actual citizen and giving interviews, it seems that this is the direction in which the human race is moving.  Keep Reading

What Did They do to Bestsellers?

in Views

by Patricija Fašalek

gurkan.ozsoy, Flickr, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

Not that long ago, the term ‘best-seller’ was used for a book which sold better than others, such as works of Charles Dickens, Mark Twain and Jane Austen, and it was reserved for fiction only. Later on, the term was applied to nonfiction also, including the very popular genre of self-help books, and gradually the word acquired a negative connotation since it was mostly associated with books of low literary value. As in, “there are great works of literature, and then there are…bestsellers.”  Nowadays the reliable source of information which restores some dignity to best-sellers would be the major bestsellers lists, published in Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, USATODAY, New York Times or Publisher’s Weekly, and, more recently, on Amazon where the term Amazon Bestseller is given to the books that manage to get on the Amazon bestsellers list – and this list is composed of hundreds or thousands of books. Keep Reading

Towards Inclusive Heritage: Thoughts on Wain, a collection of LGBT themed poetry by Rachel Plummer

in Reviews/Views
Courtesy of The Emma Press, art by Helene Boppert

by Tereza Walsbergerová

Agender and gender-queer creatures, bisexual mermaids, homosexual warriors, asexual goddesses, non-binary elves, and transgender seal folk. All this and more awaits you in Rachel Plummer’s 2019 LGBT themed retellings of Scottish mythology – Wain: LGBT Reimaginings of Scottish Folklore. As the book was commissioned by an organisation dedicated to the inclusion of queer children and youth in Scottish society, this article questions the educational potential of story-telling, the possibility of inclusive heritage, the use and “abuse” of mythology, and the universal character of mythical meanings.

Keep Reading

Shakespeare Retold for the 21st Century

in Views

by Jana Záhoráková

Shakespeare’s ideas explored by new generations of artists. By nblythe30. CC BY 4.0, pixabay.com.

In almost all of his works, Shakespeare himself made use of similar plotlines and stock characters in his plays, so it would probably not surprise him that we are still recycling his material today. Particular emphasis is placed on anything that can achieve the unappealing task of bringing his work closer to teenagers. In the quest to do this, the first step is often to get rid of the archaic language, which is a pity, since it was Shakespeare’s extraordinary use of language that made him stand out from the rest of his peers (Craig 62). Nonetheless people that create movies, plays and other forms of art often opt for keeping the plot, which is the least original part of the plays. This article will look more closely at some ways, in which writers have tried to bring the Bard closer to us all so far in this century. Keep Reading

“Mr. Fox”: A Tale of Lifesaving Curiosity

in Current Issue/Views

by Alena Gašparovičová

An illustration of Bluebeard and his wife by Gustave Doré.

Fairy tales are an innate part of human culture. Originally, many of the well-known “fairy tales were written explicitly for adults” (Zipes 16), and it was only “from 1830 to 1900, during the rise of the middle classes, that the fairy tale came into its own for children” (Zipes 20) which is when the genre came to be associated with children rather than adults. Fairy tales serve not only as entertainment for children, but also as a way to influence them during their upbringing. As the feminist scholar Marcia Lieberman explains in her article “‘Some Day My Prince Will Come’: Female Acculturation through the Fairy Tale”, children learn the “behavioral patterns and associational patterns, value systems, and how to predict the consequences of specific acts or circumstances” (384) through fairy tales. This influence which fairy tales have on children, has become a much-debated issue with the rise of feminism, especially the effect fairy tales have on young girls.

Keep Reading

1 2 3 4 5 … 8
Go to Top