University of Konstanz and Charles University Prague
Die Wochenschrift Selbstwehr (1907-1938) im deutsch-tschechischen kulturellen Kontext
Olga’s dissertation deals with the literature in the Prague Zionist weekly paper Selbstwehr, which was in circulation 1907—1938, and focuses on the first period until 1921 (with the subtitle Unabhängige jüdische Wochenschrift; afterwards, it was Jüdisches Volksblatt). She describes a cultural history of the weekly and tries to find answers on the following three research questions: Firstly, she is interested in the way, how literature in the Selbstwehr worked; secondly, how the role given to literature by the Selbstwehr was, and finally: How is the profile of the weekly influenced by literature in it? Literary works published in the weekly are very diverse, e. g. with respect to it’s origine (Yiddish literature in original as well as in German translations, Prague German literature, German literature both by Jewish and gentile authors etc.) or topics, which they deal with. In the dissertation, they are researched in several thematic complexes, such as the World War I and the figure of the Jewish soldier, Jewish feasts and celebrations, Eastern Jewry, assimilation – antisemitism and Zionism, or travel literature.
Olga Zitová is a PhD student at the Universität Konstanz and Charles University (Prague). She graduated from the Charles University in 2012, after completing her master’s degree in Czech and German studies. Her master thesis was focused on a comparative German-Czech literature topic (Thomas Mann’s Myth Concept and Ivan Olbracht’s sub-Carpathian Proses). Since 2011, she has been a member of the Centre for the Study of the Holocaust and Jewish Literature at the Charles University..
Monograph
2014 Thomas Mann und Ivan Olbracht: Der Einfluss von Manns Mythoskonzeption auf die karpatoukrainische Prosa des tschechischen Schriftstellers [Thomas Mann and Ivan Olbracht: The Impact of Mann’s Myth Concept on the sub-Carpathian Proses by the Czech Author] (Stuttgart: ibidem-Verlag)
Studies
2016a „Literární příspěvky v týdeníku Selbstwehr do roku 1921. Jidiš — první světová válka — Franz Kafka a Max Brod“ [Literary Works in the Selbstwehr Weekly until 1921: Yiddish — World War I — Franz Kafka and Max Brod]; in Jiří Holý ed.: Cizí i blízcí. Židé, literatura, kultura v českých zemích ve 20. století (Praha: Akropolis), p. 71—134
2016b „Židé v Podkarpatské tvorbě Ivana Olbrachta“ [Jews in Ivan Olbracht‘s Carpathian Ruthenia Works]; in Jiří Holý ed.: Cizí i blízcí. Židé, literatura, kultura v českých zemích ve 20. století (Praha: Akropolis), p. 267—292
2015 „Časopis Selbstwehr v roce 1907“ [The Weekly Paper Selbstwehr in 1907]; in Monika Czok – Nikolai Cezmplik – Anja Nousch – Martin Veselka eds.: Między regionalizmami a kosmopolityzmem: Polska, niemecka i czeska literatura, język i kultura (Leipzig/Dresden/Wrocław: Neisse Verlag), p. 135-143
2013 „Olbrachtův Golet v údolí ve světle románu Josef a bratří jeho Thomase Manna“ [Olbracht’s Valley of Exile in the Light of the Novel Joseph and His Brothers by Thomas Mann]; Česká literatura 61, No. 6, p. 831-853