Bøger udgivet af East European Monographs

In the last twenty years of their academic engagement in the field of literary history, the authors have focused predominantly on the explorations of various possible ways of writing literary history with the impulses and inspiration produced by recent literary theory. Their long discussions resulted in two crucial questions. 1) How could traces of certain time or certain historical period be performed in literary texts and how are we able to recognize these traces of historical strategies, ideas, aims or imaginative structures? Concepts of representations - often discussed in humanities nowadays - seem to us a useful tool which could help a literary historian who is confronted with heterogeneous variety of literary texts of a certain historical horizon to construct his/her reflections based on the traces ascending from the past. 2) What do historical events taking place in one specific context of certain time and space (e.g. a small country like Czech Lands) represent for readers of the other times and spaces?Such a general consideration can be eventually specified to focus for instance on the exile authors forced to watch and witness such a de-contextualization from the distance of their exile? What are the options of an exile writer to challenge the representations and other discoursive practices produced by official literature, especially during periods of totalitarian regimes? In the first part of this book theoretical approaches to concepts of representations are discussed especially in relationship with a practical work of a literary historian. The second part of the book provides variety of case studies in which the various modes of historical and ideological representations in literary texts are considered. The general frame of these interpretations is built on the polarity between great canonical exile figures such as Milan Kundera, and exile or immigrant Czech writers who stayed in shadow and have almost been forgotten.

Proceedings of a conference held March 30, 2007.

Focusing on the ruling elites of Hitler's Germany, Mussolini's Italy, Franco's Spain, and Salazar's Portugal, this volume explains the relationships and power dynamics that support a dictator's rule.

Criteria and methods of a structural analysis of pictorial language as a way of understanding the semiotic system of the visual arts. This is presented with a discussion of an information-processing model for optical illusions and computer simulations.

Examines the crucial first five years of Istvan Bethlen's premiership when, following the catastrophe of 1918-1920, he began the reconstruction of the country. This book argues that from 1920 to 1925, Bethlen engaged in a protracted and closely fought struggle to restore political, social, and economic stability.

This volume is a study of the most important organization of Polish political exiles in Western Europe during the revolutions of 1848-1849. It recounts the group's political and military activities in France, Germany, Hungary, and their own partitioned Polish homeland.

Examines the theory that from the early 1070s to the early 1200s the Arpads attempted to represent themselves as wholly European, while trying to appeal to both eastern and western powers. By attempting to master this balance, they sought to remain an integral political and cultural commonwealth.

The legacy of state socialism and Romanian history has affected change in Romania, causing such problems as social stratification, slow economic development, and the failure to create a solid national identity. This book addresses Romania's transition since the fall of the Ceausescu regime in 1989.

Balawyder explores how cultural, academic, commercial, and scientific exchanges with Canada played an important role in the "confidence building" that led to independence throughout Eastern Europe. This volume also contains interviews with eleven Canadian diplomats who served in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.

Features the biography of Jovan Ristic, one of Serbia's leading political figures during the second half of the nineteenth century. At the height of his career between 1868 and 1880, Ristic became one of the most successful negotiators during Serbia's dialogue with other European powers and the Ottoman Empire.

Examines the Soviet state's attempt to rebuild following World War II by offering support to families and encouraging women to enter the work force. This book also scrutinizes a society that proclaimed sexual equality, but was unable to achieve these goals because of the failure of the state to provide the structures necessary for equality.