Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies
Finland
fellow
Jitka Štollová
Home institution
University of Cambridge
Country of origin (home institution)
United Kingdom
Discipline(s)
Literature
Theme(s)
Cultural Studies
Identity
Fellowship dates
›
Biography
Jitka Štollová is a literary scholar with a focus on the intersection of literature and history, the concept of tyranny, and early modern drama and its reception. She completed her PhD at the University of Cambridge in 2018. Before joining the Collegium, she held a Title A Fellowship at Trinity College, Cambridge, and a Junior Research Fellowship at Jesus College, Oxford. She has taught modules on Shakespeare and early modern print culture at Cambridge, Oxford, and Queen Mary University of London. Her BA dissertation, Anatomy of Villainy, was awarded the Jan Palach Award, the highest honour conferred by the Faculty of Arts, Charles University in Prague.
Research Project
Václav Havel Plays: European Heritage
Jitka Štollová’s project contextualizes the plays of Václav Havel – former President of Czechoslovakia and later the Czech Republic, as well as an internationally renowned playwright – within the broader literary tradition of European drama. Although Havel’s work has been examined in relation to the Theatre of the Absurd, the influence of ‘canonical’ authors such as Shakespeare, Chekhov, and Goethe on his writing has not been systematically explored. This project identifies how Havel’s recurring references to these authors allowed him to comment on the challenges and dilemmas of living in a socialist and, later, neoliberal society. It also investigates how Havel’s dramatic and dramaturgical approach informed his political thought. More broadly, the project highlights the transcultural importance of European authors from the 16th to early 20th centuries in shaping ideas around conscience, identity, and dissent in Central and Eastern Europe during the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Research Interests:
Václav Havel; Shakespeare; tyranny