Contemporary Hebrew Dystopian Novel

• Thesis title in Czech: Současný hebrejský dystopický román
• Thesis title in English: Contemporary Hebrew Dystopian Novel
• Key words: Dystopie|Utopie|Izraelský dystopický román|Literatura a společnost|Literatura a politika
• English key words: Dystopia|Utopia|Israeli Dystopian Novel|Literature and Society|Literature and Politics
• Academic year of topic announcement: 2018/2019
• Thesis type: diploma thesis
• Thesis language: angličtina
• Department: Department of Middle Eastern Studies (21-KBV)
• Supervisor: doc. PhDr. Daniel Boušek, Ph.D.
• Author: hidden - assigned and confirmed by the Study Dept.
• Date of registration: 22.03.2019
• Date of assignment: 22.03.2019
• Administrator's approval: not processed yet
• Confirmed by Study dept. on: 27.03.2019
• Date and time of defence: 02.09.2021 11:00
• Date of electronic submission: 29.06.2021
• Date of proceeded defence: 02.09.2021
• Submitted/finalized: committed by student and finalized
• Opponents: PhDr. Mgr. Jan Zouplna, Ph.D.

Guidelines

This dissertation presents a development of Israeli science fiction prose written in Hebrew, with particular regard to dystopian and (post)apocalyptic literary works. The research also attempts to explore and examine how the various anxieties (political, social, religious, economic, technological, and environmental) circulating in Israel’s public are reflected upon in the contemporary Hebrew dystopian novels and how the Israeli reality is transformed and re-imagined, by means of author’s thought experiment, in the selected narratives. The dystopian fiction is an extremely useful tool for cultural studies inasmuch as it constitutes a direct interaction with contemporary culture in that it describes some catastrophe that befalls an entire society and much of it is then devoted to the description of the culture of that society. The Jewish state, re-established in 1948 as the State of Israel, might be the only country in the world to have been at least partially inspired by science fiction novels. The utopian visions of an independent Jewish state were presented in a number of literary works, of which the most prominent is Altneuland (1902) written by Theodor Herzl. The post-1948 local realities set the narrative on a much more darker and dramatic path and while the utopian works are still being produced, the vision of the future of the State of Israel is more often translated into a darker dystopian and (post)apocalyptic one drawing our attention to such themes as society, politics, economics, environment and religion. Structurally, the thesis is divided into two sections – the first part is centered on the theory of dystopia and development of social SF in Israel, particularly that of dystopian, utopian, and (post)apocalyptic prose. In the second part of the work, a Hebrew dystopian novel for each aforementioned thematic line is selected and critically analyzed, highlighting its connection with the contemporary Israeli culture. Additionally, the influence of the American literature and cinema on the Hebrew literary imagination is also taken into account.

References

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