Poezja paradoksów – paradoksy w poezji. Poetycka teologia księży Jana Twardowskiego, Janusza Stanisława Pasierba, Wacława Oszajcy
The Poetry of Paradoxes — The Paradoxes of Poetry The Poetic Theology of Jan Twardowski, Janusz Stanisław Pasierb and Wacław Oszajca

Author(s): Magdalena Ochwat
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Polish Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego
Keywords: poetry; paradoxes; Jan Twardowski; Janusz Stanisław Pasierb; Wacław Oszajca
Summary/Abstract: The book derives from an attempt to examine the contemporary sacerdotalpoetry focused around a paradox. Religion is a great field for contradictions,especially that Christianity has always described itself usingthe language of paradoxes and antinomy — the language of contradictionsindeed. In what other way can one express the transcendental contents?It seems that only a paradox, with the use of conceptual and linguisticdevices available, and by means of inclusion of contradictory elements,is capable of capturing the whole. The aim of the book is to analyse sacerdotalpoems in order to illustrate that the experience of paradox doesnot have to be negative, but, on the contrary, it is the only way to achievethe whole. Explicitness is of unilateral and unidirectional character, thusit cannot express the inconceivable. Paradox then becomes the most completeform of synthesis.The analyses and interpretations presented in the book aim mainly atdiscovering and describing the paradoxes occuring in the poetry of thefollowing priests: Jan Twardowski, Janusz Stanisław Pasierb and WacławOszajca. It is not an easy task to expose the distinctiveness of the poeticsof paradox in each of the three poets’ works, which constitute a specifictheology written in the language of poetry. Bearing in mind the categoryof paradox itself, the author of the book has studied the construction ofpoetic senses built around this category and conceived through its prism.The most interesting aspect for her is the opennes to the new readings ofcontradictions and paradoxes, different ways of thinking, aporia, multiplicityof interpretations and destruction of stereotypes of reasoning, contestationof the accepted views and existence beyond the schemes of reception,especially in the Catholic theology — unswerving for centuries. Inthe book, the author pays attention to the graduality of paradoxes and theintensity of their impact on the reader. She wants to illustrate that paradoxicalityis gradable and that conflicts and apparent contradictions donot have to be paradoxical, yet, they may turn out to be such in a certainperspective.The Poetry of Paradoxes — The Paradoxes of Poetry. The Poetic Theologyof Jan Twardowski, Janusz Stanisław Pasierb and Wacław Oszajcaconsists of two main parts. In the first one, the author adduces theoreticalobservations concerning the poetics of paradox: first she determines theetymology of this concept, and then, the functioning definitions and typologies.Such a synthesis of the state of research on paradox seems necessary,primarily as the basis for further analyses and interpretations. It appears tobe relevant with regard to lack of any monographic study on paradox whichwould aggregate and organize the results obtained so far. The systemaizedtheoretical knowledge about paradox allows the interpreter to reflect on the“paradox in action”, which is being realised as a stylistic trope, determinativeof the immanent poetics in the sacerdotal poetry. It also enables him/her to avoid the danger of falling into the trap of generalizations and constatations,which impede rather than expand the hermeneutic potential ofparadox in the context of poem interpretation. Hence, the functioning of aparadox illustrated with Twardowski, Pasierb and Oszajca’s poems, unitedby the discussed category, yet divergent in terms of the poetics used todescribe the world, are discussed in the second part of the book.The paradoxes in the poetry of Jan Twardowski compose the most commonstructure of paradox, which is manifested in forms of oxymorons andantitheses, structured around the linguistic contrasts. Particularly oftenTwardowski constructs his paradox on the basis of contradictions whichcomplete one another within one whole. In other words, he creates antitheticalconstructions of complementary meanings which complete oneanother. Paradox in his poetry is a method of talking and writing aboutGod and faith — a display of apophatic theology.In the poetry of Janusz Stanisław Pasierb, the paradox is most oftenbased on the combination of two juxtaposed pictures, events presented ascontradictory, or antinomic situations that take place in the Christ’s homeland.Thus, it does not consist merely in incompatible words or phrases,but in the situations described in a poem. They are mainly the results ofconflicts between the followers of Judaism, Islam and Christianity, but also,the effect of confrontation of what is old and sacred in the Holy Land withthe contemporary and profane.In the poetic texts of the third author — Wacław Oszajca — the contradictionsare evoked by the combination of distinctive orders of realityand illustrated with the pictures of redemption of characters commonlyassociated with evil and inferno, such as Judas or the devil. This form ofrepresentation corresponds to the definition of paradox as an element contradictoryto the common view — a claim that challenges the beliefs ofa certain group of people and surprises the reader.The book derives from the analysis of separate poetic texts concernedwith religious themes, which are combined into a whole by means ofa paradox that unites them. Its aim is to reinterpret and destroy the commonframeworks, in order to present new, surprising readings of the biblicalcontents, motifs and characters which are usually already burdenedwith certain standardised judgements. It is a way of reversing or “reformulating”the themes, as if from a different angle. The role of paradoxesin the priests’ poetry is not limited to providing entertainment or a wittywordplay. They rather serve a purpose of revealing the elements of reality,the phenomena and situations which have been concealed or overlooked.Simultaneously, they expose the particular sensitivity of the poets, revealingtheir unconventional perception of the world as opposed to routineand unilateral view. Owing to the suggestive and meaningful paradoxes,the priests obtain poetic devices to awake consciences and influence thereaders’ imagination, which is important these days. This approach, toa certain extent, derives from knowledge, reading and travelling experiences,but also — which the author of the book tries to emphasise — fromthe sacrament of priesthood itself. Certainly, a paradox aspires to be themost important category in the sacerdotal poetry, to rise to the rank ofpoetics — an aesthetics regarded as a consequence of the particular worldviewor a way of thinking.

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