The purpose of this paper is to examine the image of the city as represented and conceptualized in the works of prominent modern Arab poets, mainly since the 1950s. In this article, I will argue that the attitude of these modernists toward the city is characterized by a unique ambivalence. On the one hand, many of them (particularly those who migrated from provincial towns and rural areas to a capital city) unequivocally depict the city or metropolis as a harsh and cruel prison. On the other hand, these same poets recognize the immeasurable possibilites and the immense cultural space the big city offers its inhabitants, especially its poets and artists. Accordingly, a more incisive reading of their works reveals that modern Arab poets are also enthralled and captivated by the modern city. They feel that they have to put up with the metropolis, awe inspiring as it may be, distant from the "firsts sky" as it may be, because it allows them to confront paradox and incongruity, thus eliciting creativity. Therefore, as far as most Arab modernist poets are concerned, having been uprooted from their home village has put them face to face with "the other". In their eyes, it is exactly this challenge to their comfortable and somewhat stolid existence that propels them to the forefront of artistic creation.
"The sect of an ancient viper" or "people of good will"? Opposing images of Turks and islam in the works of the burgundian court writers Georges Chastelain and Bertrandon de la Broquière (circa 1455).
The declared aim of enlightened administrative reforms was to provide security and aid the whole population, i.e., all social classes. Executive powers of the newly introduced police institutions covered - and defined - the whole public sphere and measures such as census or obligation to have a passport applied, at least in theory, to persons from all walks of life. This article examines how and to what extent were these ambitions applied in practice and whether these measures had an equalising effect on the society. The author concludes that unequal, in this case preferential, administrative treatment of especially the aristocracy was still widespread at the beginning of the nineteenth century. On the one hand, persons of a higher social status - who often held public offices - were supposed to embody the new civil virtues and set an example. On the other hand, however, it was feared that any public punishment or police treatment of such persons would undermine public authority and social order in general., Pavel Himl., and Obsahuje bibliografické odkazy
The year 1948 brought an essential transformation to the countryside, its traditional values and principals of its functioning. The collectivization did not only mean consolidation of private land into collective farms; for the entire period, it was connected with repressive methods used against so-called kulaks. The contribution is a micro-probe into the life story of miller Jaroslav Paukner from the village of Hrejkovice in Southern Bohemia. Together with his parents, he was classified as “kulak” and he had to face permanent economic and social pressure crowned by
handing over of his farm to the local collective farm, deportation of the family from the village and following court proceedings as a consequence of miller´s self-willed removing into his native village. The article is based on comparison of archive materials, private chronicle of a Hrejkovice inhabitant, and survivors ́ memories. Its main aim was to offer an alternative view of the 1950s than that offered by history books, namely through a very particular story.