The Ethical Aspects of Literary Production of the Czech Dissidents

Dissertation thesis focuses on the ethical aspects of literary production of the Czech dissidents. Literature is viewed primarily as a means to legitimation; it works as a legitimizing or delegitimizing agent. A good example is the Czech dream-book by Ludvik Vaculik which shows how it is possible through the written word to (de)legitimize and to (de)mythologize themselves and others and what ethical issues such behavior brings. It works with concepts of the proliferative effect of fiction and the author's reputation as symbolic capital; postulation of the authenticity of the literary testimony; the theory of collective authorship; describing the process of silencing; and the concept of the last dictionary and the solidarity based on a revision of this dictionary. It seeks to contribute to a new approach to dissent by showing the (de)legitimizing efforts in the samizdat's literature and the literature about the dissent and thus to undermine the mainstream homogenization of this multifaceted phenomenon