Karol Irzykowski i postawa klerka
Karol Irzykowski and the clerk

Summary/Abstract: The text discusses Karol Irzykowski’s conceptions of clerkism. His theses echoed the assumptions of clerkism of Julien Benda. The issues are discussed in Part I of the text. Part II contains a detailed discussion on clerkism and the clerk, as defined by Irzykowski. For Irzykowski, like for Benda, the clerk was consistently idealistic (disinterestedness, non-participation in institutional and political disputes). The specific character of his conception lay in the fact that it combined clerkist theses with aesthetic ones in art critique (arguments with Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński). Irzykowski combined his theses with tenets of meritorism in art critique and the conception of the “projecting thought”. Irzykowski emphasized the individualistic character of the clerk (clerkism and the right to privacy, frankness in social contacts, friendship as a “clerk’s emotion”). Part III of the text recounts the critical activity of Prof. Stefan Morawski, pointing to its clerkist inspirations and theses.

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