Na boku. Pisarze teoretykami literatury?... T. 4
On the Side. Writers as Literary Theorists?... Vol. 4
Contributor(s): Józef Olejniczak (Editor), Anna Szawerna-Dyrszka (Editor)
Subject(s): Literary Texts, Studies of Literature, Philology, Theory of Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego
Keywords: literature; poetry; prose; theory of literature
Summary/Abstract: This volume is a continuation of a series Na boku (On the Side), which undertakes reflections on different ways of permeation of literary theory discourse with literary discourse in modern and postmodern Polish literature. In the following volume, the research area has been extended to the 19th century (represented by Henryk Sienkiewicz). The authors of these essays continue their search for writers’ statements about literature formulated beside strictly literary discourse (Zbigniew Herbert, Jacek Dukaj, and Henryk Sienkiewicz), but also subtly filtering into this discourse (Jan Zych, Stanisław Barańczak), or even engulfing it in its entirety (Joanna Bartoń, Piotr Goźliński, and Witold Gombrowicz). This volume also develops reflections initiated in the previous volume of this series concerning the literary output of career literary scholars, in which the theoretical language is being relocated from „on the side” to the center of literature (Zofia Mitosek). In the opening essay by Józef Olejniczak, a new understanding of the „on-the-sidedness” emerges, one which was absent from earlier volumes. It stems from the perception of change in the situation of theory-dominated literature. “Not longer than a few years ago, the standing of literature seemed to be unswerving. Today – if Olejniczak is to be believed – when theory rules, the position of literature is “on the side”. On the other hand, the works collected in this volume demonstrate that theoretical discourse still draws on literary discourse, albeit in the postmodern formation, it is the other way around – literary criticism discourse and literary theory discourse forerun literary texts” (from the editorial review by prof. dr hab. Anna Węgrzyniak).The following volume is addressed to the academia and post-middle school students interested in the humanities.
Series: Studia literackie
- E-ISBN-13: 978-83-8012-963-4
- Print-ISBN-13: 978-83-8012-962-7
- Page Count: 214
- Publication Year: 2016
- Language: Polish
Zamiast wstępu. Literatura?… na boku?…
Zamiast wstępu. Literatura?… na boku?…
(In lieu of a preface. Literature?… On the side?…)
- Author(s):Józef Olejniczak
- Language:Polish
- Subject(s):Language and Literature Studies, Literary Texts, Studies of Literature, Philology, Theory of Literature
- Page Range:7-19
- No. of Pages:13
- Summary/Abstract:The sketch is meant simultaneously as a reconnaissance and an outline of researchon mutual relations (permeations) between literary and theoretical discourses. On the basis of the microinterpretations of contemporary novels (Do niewidzenia, do niejutra by Joanna Bartoń and Dziady by Paweł Goźliński), the author points out to the shift of the “presence” of theoretical discourse from the margin position to the centre arranging a literary text. The author also poses a question whether this is the feature of postmodern narration. Also, a question of fundamental importance for outlining the situation of contemporary literature, concerning the place of the institution of literature in contemporary culture.
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Patryka przyczynkarza rozważania o handlowej makulaturze (Zbigniew Herbert)
Patryka przyczynkarza rozważania o handlowej makulaturze (Zbigniew Herbert)
(Patryk the contributor’s reflections on trade wastepaper (Zbigniew Herbert))
- Author(s):Romana Patyk-Lenarczyk
- Language:Polish
- Subject(s):Language and Literature Studies, Literary Texts, Studies of Literature, Philology, Theory of Literature
- Page Range:21-37
- No. of Pages:17
- Summary/Abstract:Zbigniew Herbert is not only a poet of irony, but also a careful reader of poetry and its teacher, not infrequently mocking the kind that is too detached from reality, devoid of strength, simplicity, and dignity (“siła, prostota i godność”).Various scattered writings published by the poet within a period of half a century provide a rich material containing explicitly formulated views on basic problems concerning poetry, its role, but also its values, meaning, and the specificity of a poetic word (including the functions of rhymes or metaphors). The aim of didactic contributions becomes to demonstrate that poetry is a basic commodity, necessary for every‑day life, but also to specify its place in culture and in history.As a theorist and a poet, he considers the role of poetry and a poet, as well as the significance of beauty. He discusses with the arty idea of situating the poet above the world: poetry is not a value in itself (and for itself), it emphasizes the value, but appreciates it only when it becomes an attempt at surpassing itself, when it opens up for the other and the reality. Poetic language has to suit ordinary human life, as only then will it be able to control the chaos of reality. Despite the fact that the author of Mr. Cogito distances himself from the youthful optimism concerning the influence of poetry on the fate of the world and the progress of mankind, he does not cease to believe in its power to construct values and to reconstruct the morality of the world. Artistic actions that he undertakes are referred to as „wycieczka aktywnej wyobraźni w poszukiwaniu struktury, porządku” (“a trip of active imagination in search of structure, order”). In all these actions one can discern the wish to penetrate the essence of words and objects, and to rip the language form the semantic crisis (“zapaść semantyczna”) that renders the distinctions between god and evil, truth and falsehood impossible. Herbert demonstrates that poetry is not merely trade wastepaper (as he calls it, “handlowa makulatura”), but an unusual power, which, thanks to its ordinariness, is capable of reconciling man with reality.
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„Nadzy w zbroi, w czasie” Zeugma i syllepsa w poezji Stanisława Barańczaka
„Nadzy w zbroi, w czasie” Zeugma i syllepsa w poezji Stanisława Barańczaka
(„Nadzy w zbroi, w czasie” Zeugma and syllepsis in Stanisław Barańczak’s poetry)
- Author(s):Jerzy Paszek
- Language:Polish
- Subject(s):Language and Literature Studies, Literary Texts, Studies of Literature, Philology, Theory of Literature
- Page Range:39-60
- No. of Pages:22
- Summary/Abstract:The present essay is an attempt at an attentive, micrological glance at the poet’sworks, compiled in the volume entitled Wiersze zebrane (Cracow 2006, p. 5–494). The rhetorical figures mentioned in the title concern two syntactic constructions: zeugma – e.g. „czołgi, co łamią śmieszne szlabany i zasady” (sampled in Wiersze zebrane, p. 244), and syllepsis – e.g. the writing on the pub wall: „Piwa i pacierza nie odmawiam”. (M.M. Hurley, D.C. Dennett, R.B. Adams, Jr.: Filozofia dowcipu. Humor jako siła napędowa umysłu. Transl. R. Śmietana. Cracow 2016, p. 233). I come to the conclusion that zeugmas occur already in the first volume of Barańczak (Korekta twarzy [Facial Corrections]), glowing and ruffling (cf. Wiersze, p. 487), up to the last one (Chirurgiczna precyzja [Surgical Precision]). Syllepis is much more infrequent, as it consists in a very sophisticated word‑play (in the aforementioned example‑the ambiguity of the verb „odmawiać” [„to deny”]).I assume that Barańczak’s inspiration – apart from the influence of English metaphysicalpoets translated by him, and also of such great authors like Brodski and Mandelsztam ‑might have been (familiar to him from his early readings), the poem by Miłosz entitled Świty (The Dawns), which begins with such an ambiguous couplet: „Wysoki był dom. W ciemności pełzł (emphasis mine) wielki mur // nad szelest liści u klonów, nad zamęt pośpiesznych nóg”. I think that the young poet was captivated and incited (to action) by the phrase „pełzł wielki mur”, which may signify both the wall fading, going pale (as the night fades away), as well as its moving and crawling. The micrology, therefore, focuses also on words that conceal the abundance of associations, characteristic for the homonyms of the Polish language.
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Świecka modlitwa? Pozdrowienie dla moli? – Jan Zych o poezji
Świecka modlitwa? Pozdrowienie dla moli? – Jan Zych o poezji
(A secular prayer? Greetings to moths? – Jan Zych on poetry)
- Author(s):Małgorzata Szulc
- Language:Polish
- Subject(s):Language and Literature Studies, Literary Texts, Studies of Literature, Philology, Theory of Literature
- Page Range:61-86
- No. of Pages:26
- Summary/Abstract:Jan Zych was a poet, translator, and copy editor. Auto‑thematic motifs appearingin his works mainly concern two areas. The first is a folk ancestry of poetry, which is frequently referred to by Zych, and which results not only from the poet’s background.The motif of a folk song occurs the most demonstrably in the first volume, although its echo will sound also in the last one. The second area concerns the role of a poet and poetry, to which Zych has an ambivalent attitude. Nevertheless, from volume to volume, he approaches both the words and himself‑the poet with more and more humbleness, even doubt, which is perfectly evidenced by the terse form of his last poems. Referring to lyric poetry as „świecka modlitwa” („a secular prayer”) and „pozdrowienie dla moli” („greetings to moths”) is at the same time referring to its origin and emphasizing his own contradictory attitude towards poetry, with an inclination to downgrading its role.
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Obrazki z miasteczka w świetle problemu (z) mimesis O Pelargoniach Zofii Mitosek
Obrazki z miasteczka w świetle problemu (z) mimesis O Pelargoniach Zofii Mitosek
(Pictures from a town in the light of the problem of (with) mimesis On Pelargonie by Zofia Mitosek)
- Author(s):Katarzyna Szkaradnik
- Language:Polish
- Subject(s):Language and Literature Studies, Literary Texts, Studies of Literature, Philology, Theory of Literature
- Page Range:87-109
- No. of Pages:23
- Summary/Abstract:The subject of analysis in the present study constitutes an autobiographical bookPelargonie by Zofia Mitosek, a literary theorist dealing with, inter alia, the problem of mimesis. In this novel, memories of childhood in a small town were portrayed by presenting the events in the present tense from the point of view of a young child. Yet the relationship between the author and the narrator turns out to be complex, while the simplicity of verbal expressions only feigns the transparency of language in which the reality is to reflect. The understanding of the functions of the narrative strategies employed in Pelargonie is rendered by their investigation in the context of research conceptions of Mitosek. The aim of the article is to demonstrate what constitutes the gist of the book as concerns the subject of the identity of an individual, the specificity of the home town of the author, the post‑warsocio‑political situation, as well as the (re)construction potentiality of literature. The latter may represent the past exclusively by means of fragments, traces, or the configuration of“pictures”, being as much the shards of the mirror of reality as the signs of culturaland narrational codes and the innumerable earlier stories.
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„Aż tu dostałem się w potrzask na równej drodze”. Ateologia polityczna Witolda Gombrowicza
„Aż tu dostałem się w potrzask na równej drodze”. Ateologia polityczna Witolda Gombrowicza
(“When suddenly, walking on this level ground, I fell into a trap”. Political atheology of Witold Gombrowicz)
- Author(s):Piotr Sadzik
- Language:Polish
- Subject(s):Language and Literature Studies, Literary Texts, Studies of Literature, Philology, Theory of Literature
- Page Range:111-153
- No. of Pages:43
- Summary/Abstract:The present article undertakes the reading of the works by Witold Gombrowicz,primarily of Ślub (The Marriage) in the context of the attempts at the critical evaluation of “political theology”, considered as a hidden structure of modernity. Attributing to the notion of “state of emergency” the role of the basic axis around which the writing of the author of Kosmos (Cosmos) continually evolves, the author of the present article thereby attempts to demonstrate that the most important feature of Gombrowicz’s world is the radical obliteration of the clear‑cut boundaries between law and lawlessness, norm and exception, etc. The work by Gombrowicz, making use, among others, of the Baroque drama matrix, in a perfect, although unconscious way, fictionalizes the theoretical remarks of Walter Benjamin fromhis The Origin of German Tragic Drama, and other polemics with the work by Carl Schmitt. Considered from this point of view, the work of the author of Ślub (The Marriage) turns out to be an endeavour to develop different modernity, i.e. such that neither seeks transcendent legitimizations, nor trusts immanent, radical disenchantment.On this basis one could also discern the trace of “postsecular” ethical moment, which seems to constantly haunt the writings of Gombrowicz. Taking into account the fact that the task of disarming the political‑theological doctrine constitutes one of the most important elements of philosophical projects of such thinkers as Giorgio Agamben, Jacques Derrida, or Roberto Esposito, the writing of Gombrowicz appears to be still a remarkably valid, fascinating, and insufficiently recognized philosophical project.
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Cyberprzestrzeń i atomizacja. Teoretycznoliterackie glosy na tle nowoczesnej science fiction
Cyberprzestrzeń i atomizacja. Teoretycznoliterackie glosy na tle nowoczesnej science fiction
(Cyberspace and atomization. The literary‑theory voices against the background of modern science‑fiction)
- Author(s):Piotr Kruszewski
- Language:Polish
- Subject(s):Language and Literature Studies, Literary Texts, Studies of Literature, Philology, Theory of Literature
- Page Range:155-178
- No. of Pages:24
- Summary/Abstract:The aim of the present article is to familiarize the reader with the rich history ofmodern science‑fiction literature written since the 1980s, and to demonstrate how the development and the perception of this kind of writing are intrinsically linked with the literary‑theory work carried out “on the side” by the authors of fantasy fiction. The starting point is the analysis and interpretation of Czarne Oceany (Black Oceans) by Jacek Dukaj, and discussing this work in order to proceed to a wider description of a cultural phenomenon which is cyberpunk. The broadening of research perspective also leads to a conclusion that the work of a science‑fiction writer and the work of a literary theorist (or, as in the case of William Gibson, pop‑culture) are two overlapping areas, still dependent upon each other. Further on, there are considerations concerning the association between the work “on theside” and the strictly literary one based on Polish speculative fiction, accompanied with demonstrating the specificity of Polish science‑fiction writings. The article concludes with an attempt at answering the question about the source of artistic value of cyberpunk and its timelessness, about this which makes this genre so rich and valuable – both a few decades ago and today.
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Henryk Sienkiewicz jako teoretyk powieści historycznej
Henryk Sienkiewicz jako teoretyk powieści historycznej
(Henryk Sienkiewicz as the theorist of a historical novel)
- Author(s):Michał Nikodem
- Language:Polish
- Subject(s):Language and Literature Studies, Literary Texts, Studies of Literature, Philology, Theory of Literature
- Page Range:179-202
- No. of Pages:24
- Summary/Abstract:In my article, in accordance with the idea of looking at metaliterary work of authors done “on the side”, I consider the paper O powieści historycznej (On historical novel) by Henryk Sienkiewicz. I begin my considerations with referring to earlier studies on the problem (Żabski, Bujnicki) and treating them as a point of reference for my own analysis. Reading “seriously” the theoretical assumptions postulated by Sienkiewicz, which can be identified also in his literary practice, I have discovered unobvious connections and ideas of the Polish Noble‑prize winner that are convergent with the findings put forward by contemporary literary theorists, such as Hayden White or Roland Barthes. I also look on the scientistic language used by the Polish writer (references to Cuvier), as well as on the traces of romantic heritage that are visible in his paper (the countries of North and South, quotingShakespeare). Another important aspect for me is creating the ideal reader as projectedby Sienkiewicz and pointing to a diary as an important source for the writers of a historical novel. The reconstruction of Sienkiewicz’s views on human nature that I undertake on the basis of various remarks scattered about the text might also be interesting for the readers of the present article. I also point out to the functions that the Noble‑prize winner attributes to literature and to historical novels. My article, therefore, in a short and concise form, gathers and discusses the postulates of Henryk Sienkiewicz concerning the historical novel, and become a point of departure for further studies on the work of this Polish writer.
- Price: 4.50 €