Public Lectures by Jiří Flajšar
The English Department is proud to invite you to
two public lectures
by
dr. habil. Mgr. Jiří Flajšar, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Institute of Foreign Languages
Faculty of Education
Palacký University, Olomouc
The American Dream: History, Myth and Reality
Thursday, November 19, 2026, 2.20 pm, P202
Ever since the Puritans sailed to the New World, people in what is now the United States have thought of an ideology of success. From John Winthrop to John Truslow Adams and beyond, the lecture first traces the historical development of the myth of the American Dream over the last several centuries, then it focuses on manifestations of the myth and its success/failure depending on social class, racial/ethnic background, level of achieved education, marriage, and so forth. Finally, the lecture provides an overview of the dimensions of the American Dream and a summarizing interpretation of its viability.
American Suburban Literature and Film
Friday, November 20, 2026, 10.40 am, P300
For the past seventy plus years, the majority of Americans have been suburbanites. As John Archer claims, the American suburbia is „the place we love to hate,“ and the ambivalence about the suburan version of the American dream is evident in the literary and film representation of the suburban lifestyle. The lecture first surveys the history of suburbanization in the United States from early 19th century to the present, focusing on the modes of transportation, housing, and domesticity changes over this period. Then, it focuses on a discussion of representative examples of 20th and 21st century suburbia, including fiction, poetry, and film.
Jiří Flajšar teaches American Literature, American History, Culture, and Second-Language Creative Writing at the Institute of Foreign Languages, Fasculty of Education, Palacký University, Olomouc. A former Fulbright visiting researcher at the University of Maryland, College Park, he received his PhD in English and American literature from Palacký University in 2001. His publications include five scholarly monographs on American literature, most recently The Suburban Novels of Richard Yates (de Gruyter, 2025), a coauthored history of Canadian literature, several edited books of literary criticism, a book of interviews with international academics and writers, Cultural Studies Alive (2015), and many lectures, articles, book chapters, and journal articles. Since the mid-2000s, his research has focused on American suburban literature and film with particular focus on domesticity and gender roles.
