Konstelacje realizmu
The constellations of realism

Summary/Abstract: The article presents the main theses formulated in the monograph Eksperymenty postrealistów. Szkice o najnowszej literaturze polskiej [Postrealists’ Experiments: Sketches on the Latest Polish Literature], by Dariusz Piechota. According to the title, the key concept for the researcher is the category of realism, which he treats as a (sometimes negative) reference point for the interpretation of the phenomena discussed. To this end, Piechota searches for — variously motivated — resonances of 19th-century prose in literature created at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries. The justification legitimizing the search for these resonances and ‘affinities by choice’ for Piechota is the formulation of — interpretatively convincing — pairs of cultural phenomena specific, respectively, to nineteenth-century and recent works (philistine/kołtun–careerist; bursz–celebrity; dandy–hipster; philistinism–devotion; dandisism–banana youth). The author, describing the transformations of contemporary Polish prose, defines its relations in relation to the perceived realistic tendencies. However, the researcher notices a rather significant difference in the instrumentalization of the convention of realism, which is why he describes his contemporary projects as post-realism. At the same time, Piechota draws attention to the ambiguity of this concept, perceiving it not only as a signal of succession in time, but rather the co-presence of realistic tendencies and those that exceed the limitations of realism.

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