Kuglowanie teorią. Casus Stanisława Barańczaka
Juggling with Theory. The Case of Stanisław Barańczak

Summary/Abstract: This article deals with Stanisław Barańczak’s playful approach to the theory of literature,presented in his book Pegaz zdębiał. Poezja nonsensu a życie codzienne: Wprowadzeniew prywatną teorię gatunków (first edition: London, 1995). The author, inspired by thetradition of literary nonsense and so-called academic humour, creates ‘a private theory ofliterary genres’ that combines two different linguistic modes: 1. an abstract scientific jargonof structuralism, along with its professional terminology, and 2. a metaphorically-orientedstyle, relying on visual effects, as well as evoking humour by the contrast with academicdiscourse. In Barańczak’s treatment, theory becomes a juggler’s prop, which he applies toshowcase his sophistication and ingenuity. Like a prestidigitator, the author performs tricksin order to grant his readers an illusion of a scientifically deep fictive theory, with suchmethods as his multiplication of generic phenomena, presented through excessively detailedclassification, enormously long footnotes, the description of generic rules resemblinga culinary show, and extravagant, bizarre literary terms. He thus reveals the comical potentialof theoretical discourse, turning the theoretical into the theatrical.

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