Series:Studia literackie

The metaphor of school in the contemporary Polish poetry

(Nie)przygotowani. Metafora szkoły w polskiej poezji współczesnej

Author(s): Kamila Czaja / Language(s): Polish

Keywords: contemporary Polish poetry; metaphor; school

The dissertation focuses on the – underrepresented in the state of research – subject of metaphor of school in the contemporary Polish poetry. The inspirations drawn from the works on the subject of the cognitive metaphor (Lakoff and Johnson) and the development of this theory on the poetic matter (Lakoff and Turner), from the papers written in the field of anthropology of education, from the partial analyses of the works by poets using the school scenes and terminology and, at last, from philosophical, psychological, pedagogical and sociological studies on mutual connections between education and non-school world allow to see the multifaceted application of the large metaphor LIFE IS A SCHOOL in the poetry. To show this large-scale subject (both in the aspect of the time-frame and poetic diction or genre) in a systematic way, the thesis consists of two parts, which are the result of two complementary approaches. The first part of the dissertation, Stages, is dedicated to the metaphor of school existing in the Polish poetry of two different periods – the years 1945–1989 (the escape from politics into the universal metaphors of school versus the use of school language as the way to beat the Polish People’s Republic system at its own game) and the new Polish poetry (the last works by the Old Masters, the transformation of the anti-system poetry after 1989, the poems forerunningthe latest poetic strategy, the anti-school statements by the authors who emerged after 1989 and their inclination to use the metaphor of school). This chronological conceptualization of the subject allows to present the intergenerational similarities and differences in including the school scenes, characters, objects and terms in the poetry, but at the same time it shows that the metaphor of school is formed partly under the influence of external (historical, political, social) factors, so this figure can be used not only as the universal large metaphor, but also as the instrument of verbalization of the experiences and changes associated with the specific events.The second part of the thesis, Topics, serves as the examination of those elements of school reality that build the metaphors connected with education. The school accessories, the educational institutions and stages, the teachers and the students, the timetable (lessons, tutoring, truancy, summer breaks), as well as the methods of evaluation of the educational performance appear in the contemporary Polish poetry in various forms and turn out to be the way to verbalize a wide range of existential experiences.The timelessness of school as the large metaphor of life and the specific strategies of metaphorization that change with time both contribute to versatility of this kind of poetic practices – the practices that are able to express different aspects of life metaphorically by the means connected with school. Love and death, past, present and future, self-recognition and the knowledge of the Other become more accessible and understandable when they are presented as the elements of “education” – even if the findings drawn from those “lessons”on the human condition can be really disheartening.

A salvaging perdition. Deliberations on experience, memory, and desire in the works of Zygmunt Haupt, Stanisław Czycz and Krzysztof Varga

Ocalające zatracenie. Rozważania o doświadczeniu, pamięci i pragnieniu w twórczości Zygmunta Haupta, Stanisława Czycza i Krzysztofa Vargi

Author(s): Tomasz Gruszczyk / Language(s): Polish

Keywords: Zygmunt Haupt; Stanisław Czycz; Krzysztof Varga

The thesis consists of three parts. Each of them is divided into separate chapters devoted to particular authors. The composition of those chapters is determined by the level of representativeness of a particular issue in a particular prose text. Therefore, in the first part, dedicated to the strategy and fragment poetics, the author takes into consideration their updating firstly in the works of Krzysztof Varga, then of Zygmunt Haupt, and finally, of Stanisław Czycz.Reaching back to the past and the rise of importance of individual experience of loss constitute the axis around which the considerations are developed in the second part. It opens up with issues concerning brooding as a particular way of being in Haupt’s prose. Also, the fragments of Czycz’s short stories which are the trace of cherishing of a particular loss in the narrative are marked and discussed. In Varga’s prose, the author attempts to save the myth of the past, instead of the past itself.In the third part, the questions about the status and the way of being of the authorial subject are raised, as well as about conceptions of subjectivity in the works of Haupt, Czycz and Varga.The considerations proposed in the thesis, concerning the prose of the three different authors refer to thinking about literature in terms of both performance and representation. Each careful reading of a literary work understood in these terms should subsume not only what is represented, but also the act itself as well as the fact of representing. Then the text is understood, or imagined, as a scene from which a voice is heard. This is a phenomenon of the very communication, of the contact itself, whose symptom is all that is happening in the text and via the text itself on every formal and content level. In texts of those authors, the voice belongs to someone who can come into existence as the voice only. The identity of such a person, or rather his image, consists of life experience of the personal author, shreds of his biography, his consciousness, but also his unconsciousness, social and cultural norms, linguistic mechanisms and, finally, the literary tradition. The question about the “who” of this voice is in fact a question both about a particular, historical unit, but also about psychosocial, linguistic and literary norms and practices. Just such questions are posed from the scene of writing in this prose, while the specific answers are inscribed into the “I” field of this voice.Both the “who” of this voice and his “what” are to large extent powered by the experiences of the authors themselves. Characters who appear on the scene of writing have traits that are similar, or even identical with the traits that could be attributed to the people hidden under the names of the authors. Often enough, those characters point out to, or even declare, this similarity themselves. They narrate stories about themselves, about their past evoked by the power of their memory. By talking about it, they also talk about more or less conscious manners of shaping depictions of the past, about culturally determined mechanisms of not so much reproducing, but of producing it. They appear in texts as actors and narrators of the story. They will not refrain from speaking about that second activity. It gives them the semblance of authenticity, the semblance of being, but still this is just the semblance.The possibility of presence is undermined by the voice, which unceasingly performs the act of disillusion, being the act of disillusion itself. The way of its existence is paradoxical. It is not personal, or certainly, not only personal. It is a result of pure productivity of the act of writing, to be exact, of writing out, writing up and writing to show off. The voice says: I am here instead of; I mean something here because soand-so on the scene of writing is not able, or does not want to spring into existence as himself; By thus speaking and marking I am supplanting him here (that is the cynical voice of Czycz’s writing out). Some other time: I am not the voice of any individual, not even of a community, but a voice of collectiveness. I am not only the voice which presents, speaks about something, I am the voice of the dialogue itself (the dialogic voice of Haupt’s writing up). Finally: I am the voice of the scene itself, of writing, of representing” (the spectacular voice of Varga’s writing to show off).The voice attempts to head to its source, but the only thing it is left to do is to mark the source’s impossible presence. Literary marking and emulating in texts do not lead to any purpose (of retrieving what is lost, restoring the presence, establishing identity and expressing it in a complete work), as it is the purpose itself. That is why the author of the thesis states that in the prose of the authors mentioned above, the literary staging of the desire itself is effectuated. This desire renders any communication possible, which becomes here an act of summoning, corresponding with, and, as a result, saving only the remnants of what is not present or unavailable.The works of Haupt, Czycz and Varga are read as a project of the redeeming loss: occurring in the voice which comes from the scene of writing during the process of redeeming the remnants of a particular presence, by destroying and dispersing it in its literary articulation.

On the Side. Writers as Literary Theorists?... Vol. 4

Na boku. Pisarze teoretykami literatury?... T. 4

Author(s): / Language(s): Polish

Keywords: literature; poetry; prose; theory of literature

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.

Poetic experience of religion. Tadeusz Kijonka, Stanisław Krawczyk, Jerzy Szymik

Poetyckie doświadczanie religii. Tadeusz Kijonka, Stanisław Krawczyk, Jerzy Szymik

Author(s): Dominik Chwolik / Language(s): Polish

Keywords: poetic experience; religion; Tadeusz Kijonka; Stanisław Krawczyk; Jerzy Szymik

In his work, the author discusses the issues of the religious sphere associated with every human being and their everyday existence, regardless of the different doctrines or points of view. Furthermore, these issues find their way into literature which aims at reflecting human life. Such poetic experience of religion can be seen in the works of Tadeusz Kijonka, Stanisław Krawczyk and pr. Jerzy Szymik on which the author based his research.The author reviews the classic religious study works, such as the theories of Rudolf Otto, William James or Mircea Eliade who view the contact with the sacrum through the prism of the feelings associated with it. Given, however, the distant time of the theories’ development, the author does not abstain from mentioning other deliberations resulting from the poets’ inveteracy in the Catholic thought circles. The poems by Kijonka contain references to JohnPaul II, whereas the theology of Benedict XVI is significant when attempting to interpret the works of Szymik.The three aforementioned poets, although associated with Silesia (with its’ traces visible in their works) do not represent, in the authors’ view, the ‘Silesian religiousness’ stream. It does,however, serve the purpose of evoking that which is universal or it may become a pretext to reflect upon experiencing the sacrum and profanum.While analyzing the work of Kijonka, the author points out, above all, the contrast between the faith of a trusting child and that of a doubtful adult (which is to be understood as a reflection of the struggle with reality). The poet often returns in his memories to his childhood, irreversibly lost (as the past Christmas) once the border (of the forest or city) is crossed. In his works, an adult is depicted as someone who feels abandoned and looks at the sky expecting a miracle. They yearn to return to the distant past or even to the heavenly state. God, in Kijonkas’ writings, is both close and distant. The author of Time, places and words (org. Czas, miejsca i słowa) deals with the matters of one’s body, sickness (even his own one) and death, as well as with the image of the mother (both earthly and heavenly — Mary).In the chapter devoted to Krawczyk, the author discusses the issue of a man standing in the centre of a world undergoing destruction, where the surface resembles a volcanic landscapeand the protagonist wanders in search of faith. In his poems, the poet dwells upon the matters of the mystery of the interrelation of both man and God (the incarnation of Christ, co‑experience of suffering), the human fate and ‑ what is significant ‑ the mysteryof his own (the creators’) ‘self’. He performs a self‑evaluation.In Vowels and colours (org. Samogłoski i kolory), Krawczyk focuses also on the intriguing, incorporated in the religious codes of his poetry, thread of the woman (through the comparison of his wife and Eve from the paradise).The last section of this thesis is associated with the wor of Jerzy Szymik. The author especially focuses on the prospect of the man continuously getting nearer to God through everyday life, as portrayed by the priest‑poet.Included in the work of Szymik are the categories of suffering (Incarnation and its mystery, similar to Krawczyk), sickness (similar to Kijonka — his own state), death, but also priesthood, the Resurrection and even common, everyday events. The description of the image of Mary or the references to journeys, both local ones to Pszów or Lublin and more distant ones to Italy or the United States, are not different. The author of Gods’patience (org. Cierpliwość Boga) notes a remarkable relation between the sacrum and profanum (the example of the temple and the city).When it comes to the Creator himself, Szymik refers to him as Love, after Ratzinger.Religious experiences, in the view of the author of the thesis, permeate the poetry of Tadeusz Kijonka, Stanisław Krawczyk and Jerzy Szymik regardless of their own beliefs or the similarities and differences one can find between them. This is due to the fact thatthey are associated with something greater ‑ the personal struggle undertook by the poets which we can find reflected in their works.The doctoral thesis was created under the supervision of Professor Marian Kisiel.

Potocki (Jan) – in Duets (with Socialites in an Annex)

Potocki (Jan) – w duetach. (Ze światowcami w aneksie)

Author(s): Janusz Ryba / Language(s): Polish

Keywords: Jan Potocki; salons; Socialites

The book consists of two parts: the first and proper one: „Potocki (Jan) – w duetach” / „Potocki (Jan) – in duets”] and an annex: „Potockiego naturalne „uniwersum”: światowcy” / „Potocki’s universe: the socialites” /. The first, core part is comprised of seven sketches grouped into four sections tackling distinct topics. The first group: „Duety rodzinne” / „Famly duets” / includes the sketches: „Kobiece „société” oświeceniowe: Anna Teresa Potocka” / „The female „société” of the Enlightenment: Anna Teresa Potocka” / and „Kilka uwag o Bernardzie (synu Jana) Potockim” / „A few remarks on Bernard Potocki (the son of Jan)” /. The second group – „Duety towarzyskie” / „High socjety duets” /, includes: „Stanisław August Poniatowski i jego niesforny poddany: Jan Potocki” / „Stanisław August Poniatowski and his naughty subject” / and „Dwaj hrabiowie: Jan Potocki i Edward Raczyński” / „The two counts: Jan Potocki and Edward Raczyński” /. The sketches that fall into the third group – „Uczone duety” / „The Learned Duets” / – are: „Poszukiwacze Prawdy: Blaise Pascal i Jan Potocki” / „The truth seekers: Blaise Pascal and Jan Potocki” / and „Julius Henrich Klaproth: uczeń Jana Potockiego” / „Julius Henrich Klaproth: the student of Jan Potocki” /. The last group, „W duecie ze służącym” / „Duet with the servant” / includes the sketch: „Ibrahim, Turek Jana Potockiego” / „Ibrahim, Jan Potocki’s Turk” /. The annex, „Potockiego naturalne uniwersum: światowcy” / „Potocki’s universe: the socialites” /, includes four articles: „Rozkosze światowców: konwersacja” / „Conversation: The socialites’ delight” /; „Przydomki oświeconych” / „Nicknames of the enlightened” /, «Wachlarz: oświeceniowy „gadżet”» / „The fan – gadget of the Enlightenment” /, and „Sztuka umierania światowców (oświeceniowych)” / „The enlightened socialites’ art of dying” /. What is characteristic of the core part of the volume is the method of characterizing the protagonist, that is depicting him as compared/confronted with another (real) character; (thus the title: „Potocki in duets”). The sketches included in the annex in turn mostly tackle the customs and fads of the high society milieu wherein Potocki lived and created, consequently, it is the part where the four vibrant characteristics of the ways of the high society of the Enlightenment have been discussed: the culture of the conversation, the custom of giving men of fashion nicknames (glamorous, graceful, ingenious ones), the women’s habit of ceaseless fanning, and the cosmopolites’ inclination towards scheming meticulously the scenarios and circumstances of leaving this world. The author’s intention was to combine and present the above not unlike a colorful fresco depicting the culture of the Enlightenment – with Jan Potocki as its main protagonist.

(Un)memorization – games with the past in children's and youth literature

(Od)pamiętywanie – gry z przeszłością w literaturze dla dzieci i młodzieży

Author(s): / Language(s): Polish

Federico García Lorca – from symbolism to surrealism

Federico García Lorca – od symbolizmu do surrealizmu

Author(s): Jacek Lyszczyna / Language(s): Polish,Spanish

Keywords: Federico García Lorca; symbolism; surrealism

Lectures on Romanticism

Wykłady z romantyzmu

Author(s): Jacek Lyszczyna / Language(s): Polish

The book is an outcome of almost thirty-year-long scholarly experience of the author. It includes themes discussed during academic classes and lectures delivered as a part of Polish Philology course. Amongst the discussed creators are the likes of Adam Mickiewicz and Juliusz Słowacki, but also the less renowned ones. All of the foregoing is, however, seen by the author against the backdrop of other epochs in the arts and literature, especially the Enlightenment that directly preceded Romanticism, and dynamically progressing history of literature. And so, for instance, we may learn about notorious disputes involving representatives of Romantic and Classicist movements; folk-, nation-, and history-inspired Romanticism; the November Uprising, and the Great Emigration; Romantic Messianism; the semiotics of landscape, and the Genesis from the Spirit-period Słowacki. Therefore, the book is rather subjective yet legitimized by the acquired experience an angle on Romantic literature.

Camões and the taste of sardines. Polish 19th century relations from journeys to Portugal

Camões i smak sardynek. Polskie dziewiętnastowieczne relacje z podróży do Portugalii

Author(s): Magdalena Bąk / Language(s): Polish

Keywords: Camões; Poland; Portugal

The aim of this book is to analyse the Polish 19th century accounts of journeys to Portugal. Though it was certainly not the most popular destination for Polish travellers, there are several interesting relations that present Portuguese phenomena to the Polish readers. The following – mostly forgotten – books are recalled here: Two years in Spain and Portugal during the civil war 1838–1840 by Karol Dembowski, Memories of the journey through Denmark, Norway, England, Portugal, Spain and Morocco by Teodor Tripplin, fragments of Władysław Mickiewicz’s Memoirs, Adolf Pawiński’s Portugal. Letters from the journey and the Portuguese part of the book How to travel at little cost? Iberian voyages by Wincenty Lutosławski. The last chapter of the book is dedicated to Stefan Szolc‑ Rogoziński’s Sailing along the cost of West Africa, and in particular the part concerning Madeira. The analyses presented in the book aim at revealing different strategies of perceiving and describing Portuguese phenomena by Polish 19th century travellers. It also enables the author to highlight some common elements observed in all analysed texts – they reveal specifically the attitude of the writers, determined by their Polish culture. Such elements become evident when analysed in comparison with the accounts written by representatives of other European nations (especially the English, whose reports of journeys to Portugal seem to be the most significant in the 19th century).

On the language and style of "With Fire amd Sword" by Henryk Sienkiewicz. Studies on the text

O języku i stylu „Ogniem i mieczem” Henryka Sienkiewicza. Studia nad tekstem

Author(s): Aleksander Wilkoń / Language(s): Polish

Keywords: With Fire amd Sword; Sienkiewicz

The Great Topics of American Literature. Vol. 8: Violence

Wielkie tematy literatury amerykańskiej. Tom 8: Przemoc

Author(s): / Language(s): Polish

Keywords: American literature; violence

Donat Kirsch: Elimination of episteme. Critical works

Donat Kirsch: Eliminacja episteme. Pisma krytyczne

Author(s): / Language(s): Polish

Keywords: Donat Kirsch; new prose; artistic revolution in prose; literary criticism;Henryk Bereza;

The presented edition contains critical writings of Donat Kirsch, one of the leading representatives of the “artistic revolution in prose”, defined in the 1970s by Henryk Bereza. Born in 1953, Kirsch first appeared as an author of artistic prose (including his debut, award‑winning Liście croatoan), but apart from that he also dealt with literary criticism and essay writing. In the early 1980s he settled in the USA, where he has been working as an IT specialist. However, he never ceased writing.The publication includes two voluminous texts, similar in their character to the program statements. The first of them, Elaborat – debiuty lat siedemdziesiątych, originally appeared in the pages of “Twórczość” in 1981. This edition has been complemented by unpublished fragments found in Kirsch’s letters to Bereza. The second text, Kronika pewnej eliminacji, was created in 2018. It verifies – after almost 40 years – the thesis put forward in Elaborat, offering, at the same time, an original look over the history of literature and literary life in post‑war Poland.

Personal Composition. Essays on Contemporary Prose Writers. Part 3

Skład osobowy. Szkice o prozaikach współczesnych. Cz. 3

Author(s): / Language(s): Polish

Keywords: Polish prose after 1989; author; interpretation; creativity guide;literary criticism;

Defiant. Jacek Kaczmarski’s selected struggles

Hardy. Jacka Kaczmarskiego zmagania wybrane

Author(s): Kamila Czaja / Language(s): Polish

Keywords: Jacek Kaczmarski; bard; struggle; defiance;God;

The book consists of analyses devoted to several themes in Jacek Kaczmarski’s work, which, despite their diversity in terms of subject matter and time of creation, can be treated as an expression of various types of struggle – with the political system, with God, with artistic and biographical inspirations. The term “selected struggles” contained in the subtitle underlines not only the fact that the set of possible problems remains open, but also the fact that Kaczmarski deliberately initiated such multiple struggles, which would correspond to the idea of a bard as a contester and a rebel. In the first part (System [System]), on the example of the reception of the piece Mury [Walls], the subject of analysis is the legitimacy of using the term “bard” in relation to Kaczmarski, and the differences between recognising this artist as bard and treating him as the exponent of beliefs of only one political option. After resolving the issue of the author’s appropriation by “Solidarity”, an example of more sophisticated expression of opposition to the system – through the use of the conceptual metaphor SYSTEM is a SCHOOL (among others, in texts such as Przedszkole [Kindergarten] or Nasza Klasa [Our Class]) – is being reflected upon. The second part of the book, entitled Bóg [God], contains interpretations devoted to works that are crucial for various stages of the difficult relationship with God – from the dispute (Walka Jakuba z aniołem [Jacob’s Fight with an Angel]), through the search for a way of reconciliation (Konfesjonał [Confessional]), to the difficult coexistence, the condition of which is the creation of a human image of God other than that of the Old Testament (Śniadanie z Bogiem [Breakfast with God]). The chapter which is focused on the text Diabeł mój [My Devil] presents elements of the previously discussed stages of struggle with God that occur within one song. The third part is entitled Inspiracje [Inspirations] and presents selected examples of Kaczmarski’s use of existential experience and existing texts of culture and their processing in a creative way. The chapter “Sposób z refrenkiem”, czyli o śpiewanej “historii literatury” [“A method with a chorus”, or about the sung “history of literature”], shows how Kaczmarski’s artistic output can be written into various concepts of practicing the history of literature (in its popularizing version). Między muzą a schematem. O Testamencie ’95 [Between muse and schema. On Testament ’95] is an analysis of one genre, the will, as an example of what Kaczmarski can do with the existing genological model. In the chapter Choroba twórcy – tworzywem tekstu [Creator’ Illness as the Material of the Text], the experience of disease is transformed into an artistic message, and the short text Żydzi, masoni i (w zastępstwie cyklistów) bard [Jews, Masons and (in place of cyclists) the bard] proves that the same experience can simultaneously be an inspiration for further attempts to influence society with a song. The opponents change in Kaczmarski’s works, but the permanent features of his artistic legacy are social, existential, creative resistance, defiance, standing in opposition to that which upsets and entering into a dialogue with that which inspires. The struggles that appear in these texts do not end with the death of the author; they constantly provoke new interpretations, and taking up new readings becomes part of other struggles – for the memory of Kaczmarski and his work, so susceptible to appropriation and simplification.

The Body of The Maghrebian Woman. A Study of Female Corporality and Sexuality in Leïla Marouane's Novels

Corps de la femme maghrébine. Étude de la corporéité et de la sexualité féminines dans l’oeuvre romanesque de Leïla Marouane

Author(s): Magdalena Malinowska / Language(s): French

Keywords: Body of The Maghrebian Woman; female corporality; sexuality; Leïla Marouane

The aim of this monograph is to show multitudinous and variegated depictions of the female body in novels by a contemporary Algerian author, Leïla Marouane. Throughout the entire colonial period, the female body, having been considered a symbol of Algerian nationality, was turned into a token in a political struggle sustaining between the colonizer and Algerians. Thereby, women faced double oppression. The foregoing thesis serves as a departure point for the analyses carried out herein, which are focused on the way the contemporary woman of the Maghreb positions herself in relation to her double cultural heritage, while at the very core of the monograph’s discussion remain the issues of women’s corporeality and sexuality.Part One of the work, which is devoted to socio-political history of Algeria and the history of literature written by the women of the Maghreb, introduces readers to the said cultural circle. What is utilised here is Pierre Bourdieu’s field theory. Thus, both the Algerian field of power and field of literature undergo an analysis. In Chapter 1 an outline is provided of the history of Algeria; from the moment of regaining independence, through the civil war of the 1990s, up to the present day. Drawing upon the conviction espoused by the western second- wave feminists that history is always narrated from a subjective standpoint, the latter part of the chapter narrates the very same story from the women’s perspective, particularly including such aspects as their legal circumstances and transformations of the traditional family model.The subsequent chapter is devoted to the Maghreb field of literature or, to be more precise, its part created by women. First, some major theories of women’s writing are discussed (Hélène Cixous, Béatrice Didier, Françoise Théoret and others). After the said theoretical introduction, the origins and development of the Maghreb women’s literature sub-field are given account of, along with the catalogue of the most prominent female writers coming from three countries of North Africa. Finally, the question of bodily experience in selected works is tentatively discussed, thereby outlining the problematics of corporeality and sexuality in the literature of the studied cultural circle. In addition, it allows to better understand the specificity of Maghreb literature, while showing its opulence and variety, along with positioning the oeuvre of the author in question amongst other female writers of North Africa.Part Two of the monograph zeroes in on Leïla Marouane and her novels, in particular the issues of literary representation of female corporeality and sexuality. It commences with discussing her biography, a life journey which explains her involvement in feminist movement, finding its expression in both, her artistic works and extra-literary activism. Further on, all of Marouane’s five novels are discussed: La Fille de la Casbah (1996), Ravisseur (1998), Le Châtiment des hypocrites (2001), La Jeune Fille et la Mère (2005), and La Vie sexuelle d’un islamiste à Paris (2007). Chapter 4 begins with a presentation of the concept of sexuality in Islam. Then, different facets of female corporeality and sexuality in Marouane’s novels are subjected to an analysis, mainly such notions as: the traditional division of space into male and female, and the related (non-)presence of women in public space; the Muslim injunction of wearing so-called veil (hijab) and emancipation through “‘unveiling’ the body” (corps « dé-voilé »); the institution of marriage in Islam and the virginity taboo; the woman’s most important social function, namely, maternity, along with social control of sexuality and reproduction; objectification of female body as the aim of male desire and violence; and finally, budding female sexuality, the discovery thereof with resultant social ramifications. In the process of investigating the above-mentioned aspects of female corporeality and sexuality in the Maghreb culture, the stances of the following scholars prove to be instrumental: Fatima Mernissi, Abdelwahab Bouhdiba, Malek Chebel, Isabelle Charpentier and others.Leïla Marouane appears as one of the champions of the women’s cause in Algeria. Her feminist involvement facilitates and invites the reading of her oeuvre as a kind of database regarding today’s Algerian society, in particular the position held by women. The analyses conducted herein prove the paramount aim of her works, that is, to expose the male dominance and, in turn, the oppression incurred by Maghreb women. However, it seems worth underscoring that Marouane does not point to Islam per se as a source of the said situation, but rather indicates fossilised and antiquated traditions which prevent women from truly partaking in the achievements of modernity. In her literary pieces, the author in question juxtaposes two generations: that of mothers who are the guardians of mentioned traditions, in their forties or older, illiterate, having been married to their husbands in an early age, confined to their homes, socially and financially dependent on their men; and that of daughters – younger women, educated, in employment, remaining unmarried well into adulthood, and enjoying relative freedom. This contrasted picture of different generations of women reflects real changes observed by sociologists in Algeria and other countries of the region. Therefore, literature in general, and works by Leïla Marouane in particular, become tell-tale indicators of transformations taking place in the society.

Senses and children’s and youth literature

Zmysły i literatura dla dzieci i młodzieży

Author(s): / Language(s): Polish

Popular literature. Vol. 3. Crime story

Literatura popularna. T. 3: Kryminał

Author(s): / Language(s): Polish

Keywords: popular literature; crime story

Weave. Sketches on Polish, Russian and Jewish poetry

Splot. Szkice o poezji polskiej, rosyjskiej i żydowskiej

Author(s): Marian Kisiel / Language(s): Polish

Keywords: Polish Poetry; Russian Poetry; Jewish Poetry; 20th century

This collection comprises texts on poets and poems that are interwoven in numerous ways: be it historically, biographically, or literarily. The Polish, Russian, and Jewish authors discussed – some of whom belong to all three categories simultaneously – are gathered in this study based on coincidence, exception, and necessity. These include: Emil Zegadłowicz, Jerzy Liebert, Anna Akhmatova, Rachel Boymvol, Solomon Bart, Tadeusz Różewicz, Adam Czerniawski, Andrzej Busza, Anna Frajlich, and Ewa Lipska. The coincidence relies on their encounter on the pages of this book; the exception – on their relation to language or its rejection, the place of their own or its loss, nationality or its change, if not refusal; the necessity, in turn, embraces the fact that each of the authors is under the impression of being thrown into the 20th century, this so-called “futile time,” when one is bound to confront one’s biography as if it belonged to someone else, and to treat other biographies as the most intimate ones. The knots of biographies and works result in an unexpected surprise, both encapsulated in the poems by the author, and rediscovered by the reader.

After the lessons

Po lekcjach

Author(s): Małgorzata Wójcik-Dudek / Language(s): Polish

Keywords: dydaktyka literatury; literatura dla dzieci i młodzieży; interpretacja tekstów kultury

The composition of the book After the Lessons by Małgorzata Wójcik-Dudek extracts the most important content from the articles it contains, and the proximity of individual texts enables their dialogue and often also critical commentary. The articles address issues which are close to the author’s research interests and result from her professional experience. Their subject matter oscillates around two areas: literature for children and teenagers and selected ‘school readings’ subjected to interpretation procedures that allow for refreshing and broadening the horizon of school reading of canonical titles. While reading literature for the young, the researcher proposes a non-standard look at, among other things, the Moomin series, the Professor Inkblot’s Academy by Jan Brzechwa, the work of Janusz Korczak or Antonina Domańska; using contemporary methodologies, she tries to indicate ways of reading literary texts that are in line with the assumptions of ecological humanities. As far as secondary school reading is concerned, the author is interested in the works of Bolesław Leśmian, Bruno Schulz, Andrzej Stasiuk or Olga Tokarczuk, as well as in the innovative and open to ‘new’ reading Antigone. Starting from micro-analyses, the author goes on to generalizations enabling the inclusion of the proposed texts in the story about the need to reflect on a “happy school”, focused on care and community building. This type of reading of literary texts renders them the original material to reflect on the place and role of (humanistic) education in the contemporary world.

The Figure of The Wandering Jew in the 20th-century French Prose Works

La figure du Juif errant dans la prose française du XXe siècle

Author(s): Piotr Kamiński / Language(s): French

Keywords: Contemporary French prose works; The Wandering Jew; Judaism; anti-Semitism;death of the myth;

The present monograph constitutes a semiological and semiopragmatic analysis of the figure of the Wandering Jew in selected French prose works dating from the 20th century (five texts altogether). Its overriding subject-matter is to determine to what extent the conventional pre-designation is reflected in the analysed novels presenting the immortal vagrant, but also to verify if the axiom of the so-called “death of the myth” is indeed well-founded and if it is present in the contemporary French literature. In the publication, has also been indicated a net of correlations which occurs in the reading process between the analysed character and a reader. Therefore, the other essential goal of the study was to look into the narrative system so as to describe to what extent ‒ and if at all ‒ narrative procedures applied in the analysed prose works determine a potential anti-Semitic overtone and reception of the Wanderer.