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doctoral thesis
The affirmation of the meaning of life in the novels of Michael D. O'Brien
2025. urn:nbn:hr:142:267718
Matković, Sanja
Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

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Matković, S. (2025). The affirmation of the meaning of life in the novels of Michael D. O'Brien (Doctoral thesis). Osijek: Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. Retrieved from https://urn.nsk.hr/urn:nbn:hr:142:267718

Matković, Sanja. "The affirmation of the meaning of life in the novels of Michael D. O'Brien." Doctoral thesis, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, 2025. https://urn.nsk.hr/urn:nbn:hr:142:267718

Matković, Sanja. "The affirmation of the meaning of life in the novels of Michael D. O'Brien." Doctoral thesis, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, 2025. https://urn.nsk.hr/urn:nbn:hr:142:267718

Matković, S. (2025). 'The affirmation of the meaning of life in the novels of Michael D. O'Brien', Doctoral thesis, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, accessed 11 April 2025, https://urn.nsk.hr/urn:nbn:hr:142:267718

Matković S. The affirmation of the meaning of life in the novels of Michael D. O'Brien [Doctoral thesis]. Osijek: Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences; 2025 [cited 2025 April 11] Available at: https://urn.nsk.hr/urn:nbn:hr:142:267718

S. Matković, "The affirmation of the meaning of life in the novels of Michael D. O'Brien", Doctoral thesis, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Osijek, 2025. Available at: https://urn.nsk.hr/urn:nbn:hr:142:267718

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Metadata
TitleThe affirmation of the meaning of life in the novels of Michael D. O'Brien
Title (croatian)Afirmacija smisla života u romanima Michaela D. O'Briena
AuthorSanja Matković
MentorBiljana Oklopčić (mentor)
MentorJosip Bošnjaković (komentor)
Committee memberJadranka Zlomislić (predsjednik povjerenstva)
Committee memberKrešimir Šimić (član povjerenstva)
Committee memberStjepan Radić (član povjerenstva)
GranterJosip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
Osijek
Defense date and country2025, Croatia
Scientific / art field,
discipline and subdiscipline		HUMANISTIC SCIENCES
Philology
Theory and History of Literature
Universal decimal classification
(UDC)		821.111 - English literature
27 - Christianity
Thesaurus
(NSK Kontrolirani rječnik)
Abstract
The doctoral thesis studies the topic of the affirmation of the meaning of life in the realistic novels by Canadian Catholic author Michael D. O’Brien through Viktor Frankl’s logotherapy and existential analysis and the theological-philosophical approach of Christian anthropology. Through stories about the spiritual journey of an ordinary person, O’Brien explores metaphysical questions of discovering the meaning of life through deeds, love, faith, and the acceptance of suffering, while... More affirming the uniqueness and value of every human life and addressing the concepts of spirituality, freedom, responsibility, and conscience. Similarly to O’Brien’s novels, Christian theology and philosophy, as well as existential analysis and logotherapy, take the spiritual dimension of human beings as their starting point and deal with the question of the meaning of life, providing answers compatible to O’Brien’s. According to existential analysis and logotherapy, each person has the responsibility to discover the meaning of their life through self-transcendence, which is realized through deeds, experiences such as love, and their attitude toward inevitable suffering. Christianity provides an ontic foundation to this phenomenological manifestation of meaning. This foundation is God, who is love, so that, according to Christianity, the experience of meaning is in the experience of love, by which man is saved. Salvation thus represents the ultimate meaning of life. The aim of this research is to study, describe, and typify the affirmative elements that represent the meaning of life in Michael D. O’Brien’s realistic novels as well as to determine whether O’Brien’s novels belong to high or popular literature. Less
Abstract (croatian)
Doktorska disertacija proučava temu afirmacije smisla života u realističkim romanima kanadskoga katoličkog književnika Michaela D. O'Briena primjenom egzistencijske analize i logoterapije Viktora Frankla te teološko-filozofskog pristupa kršćanske antropologije. Pričama o duhovnom putovanju „maloga“ čovjeka, O'Brien se bavi metafizičkim pitanjima o otkrivanju smisla života putem djela, ljubavi, vjere i prihvaćanja patnje, afirmirajući jedinstvenost i vrijednost svakoga ljudskog bića te... More baveći se konceptima duhovnosti, slobode, odgovornosti i savjesti. Kršćanska teologija i filozofija te egzistencijska analiza i logoterapija za svoje polazište uzimaju čovjekovu duhovnu dimenziju te se bave pitanjem smisla života, dajući odgovore kompatibilne O'Brienovima pa su stoga upotrijebljene kao teorijski okvir ove analize. Prema egzistencijskoj analizi i logoterapiji, svaka je osoba odgovorna za otkrivanje vlastitoga životnog smisla. Cilj je ljudske aktivnosti realizacija vrijednosti, a tri su tipa vrijednosti: stvaralačke, doživljajne i vrijednosti stava. Sve se one ostvaruju sebe-nadilaženjem. Ovomu fenomenološkomu očitovanju smisla kršćanstvo pruža ontički temelj. Taj temelj jest Bog, koji je ljubav, tako da je, prema kršćanstvu, iskustvo smisla u iskustvu ljubavi, po kojoj se čovjek spašava. Spasenje stoga predstavlja konačni smisao života. Cilj ovog istraživanja jest proučiti, opisati i tipizirati afirmativne elemente koji predstavljaju smisao života u realističkim romanima Michaela D. O'Briena te utvrditi pripadaju li O’Brienovi romani visokoj ili popularnoj književnosti. Less
Keywords
Keywords (english)
Languageenglish
URN:NBNurn:nbn:hr:142:267718
Promotion2025-03-04
Study programmeTitle: Literature and Cultural Identity
Study programme type: university
Study level: postgraduate
Academic / professional title: doktor/doktorica znanosti u području humanističkih znanosti (doktor/doktorica znanosti u području humanističkih znanosti)
Type of resourceText
File originBorn digital
Access conditionsOpen access
Terms of useLicence In copyright icon
Created on2025-03-21 11:01:14
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