Review: "Shut Up Shut Down - Poems"
By Mark Nowak. Afterword by Amiri Baraka. Minneapolis: Coffee House Press (www.coffeehousepress.org), 2004. ISBN 1-56689-163-9. 161 pages. Paper. $15.00.
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By Mark Nowak. Afterword by Amiri Baraka. Minneapolis: Coffee House Press (www.coffeehousepress.org), 2004. ISBN 1-56689-163-9. 161 pages. Paper. $15.00.
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Simon Tokarzewski’s Memoirs are remarkable for several reasons. First, even though they are related to (and probably precede) Dostoevsky’s House of the Dead, they have hardly ever been mentioned as a possible stimulus for Dostoevsky’s work. Second, they contain notable comments about Dostoevsky. The details and insights Tokarzewski provides fit well with Dostoevsky’s enigmatic personality. Critics have maintained that Dostoevsky changed radically in prison from a “revolutionary” to a “reactionary.” Tokarzewski demonstrates that this is inaccurate and that Dostoevsky went to prison through one of those systemic quirks (common in autocratic Russia) that sent people to prison for brushing shoulders with revolutionaries.
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By Anna R. Dadlez. Boulder, CO: East European Monographs, no. DXIII (distributed by Columbia University Press), 1998. ISBN 0880334118. xii + 308 pages. Hardcover.
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(The Revenge of History: Russian Strategic Initiative in the Twenty-First Century) By Aleksandr Sergeevich Panarin. Moscow: Logos, 1998. 391 pages. ISBN 5-88439-085-8. Hardcover. In Russian.
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(An anthology of Polish poetry in diaspora, 1939–1999) Selected, edited, and with a Preface by Bogdan Czaykowski. Includes short bios of cited authors. Warsaw: Spółdzielnia Wydawnicza Czytelnik and Polski Fundusz Wydawniczy w Kanadzie, 2002. 631 pages. ISBN 83-07-02846-9. Hardcover. In Polish.
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By Francis Casimir Kajencki. El Paso, Texas: Southwest Polonia Press. 2004. xx + 407 pages. Index, illustrations. ISBN 0-9627190-7-2. Hardcover. $120.00.
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(The Eastern Orthodox civilization in the globalized world) By Aleksandr Sergeevich Panarin. Moscow: Algoritm, 2002. ISBN 5-9265-0036-2. 492 pages. In Russian.
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In the article All that occurs on the other scene. Subjectivity in the psychoanalysis of Jacques Lacan, the question of responsibility and motives of action the author would like to draw readers' attentions to the question of subjectivity in the theory of the French contemporary psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan. It is a matter of fact that in all his career Lacan focused on the human subject and in this field developed very interesting reflection. A comprehensive look at the lacanian theory of the subject of unconscious may help us to tease out the difference between his conception and others, not only the psychoanalytical, but also philosophical. In his article the author tries to follow the main topics and attempts to explore such issues as the Freudian discovery of the unconscious, the evolution of the concept of unconscious by Lacan and its transformations put in the context of the investigations about subjectivity, not as a reflection about one definition, but rather as a complicated process of the constituting of subjectivity.
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What are intellectual's tasks and possibilities in a local community of a small town? In this draft the authoress considers the example of Jan Szczepański, a sociologist of world-wide fame, born in Ustroń in 1913. It presents his opinions as a researcher of education on intellectual's functions as well as his conception of individuality which can be explored by every human in him - or herself and which can limit the social evil. It also shows the life's path of Szczepański himself, his aims as a scholar and how he could fulfill them in realities of the Polish People's Republic. The draft portrays ambivalence towards educated persons in local community and the burden of choices which they have to make. It turns out that intellectual's responsibility to a community is not always possible to make real on place, but the most important is approach to one's work and remembrance about where does one come from. Szczepański in his life executed the determinants of peasant and Protestant reliable approach to work as a duty towards others (both the closest persons, the society and future generations) and towards the higher order, which maintains this world.
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The liberal-communitarian 'debate' is generally perceived as one of the most important intellectual conflicts in modern political philosophy. The essay presents Charles Taylor's ideas on 'self, 'identity', 'naturalism' and human freedom. Canadian philosopher (often classified as communitarian although he prefers the epithet 'republican'), criticizes 'L(iberal) team members' such as Isaiah Berlin, Robert Nozick and John Rawls. According to Charles Taylor 'atomistic' political theories cause selfishness, justify egoism and promote moral relativism. These ideas lead to 'rights-talk', permissiveness and political correctness. Taylor argues that political atomism is associated with the concept of 'negative liberty'. Taylor emphasizes that identity is a matter of dialogical self-interpretation. In other words, human freedom is 'situated,' because its implementation is dependent on interpersonal relationships, social and moral commitments, particular culture and tradition. Despite the fact Taylor rejects Berlin's 'negative liberty', John Gray's 'modus-vivendi', Ronald Dworkin's theory of rights and Judith Shklar's 'liberalism of fear', it is hard to consider him as coherent anti-liberal. It appears that Taylor's ideas mat be considered as a synthesis of both liberal and communitarian conceptions.
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The paper is divided into four parts which describe: 1) academic staff, 2) system of higher education, 3) students, 4) study programmes. It shows that in many cases conservatism and particularism are those that create university's environment. The following problems are shown: 1) University's work, although hard, is ineffective, no innovative. The number of administrative matters to be done by academic staff is raising. Personal relationships rather than knowledge have an impact on the academic career of an individual. Decisions are made in relation "we" - "others". 2) A number of university employees does not meet requirements. There are too many academic teachers who provide non effective teaching programmes. 3) To improve university education the reform of the primary and secondary school education is needed. Very few secondary-school graduates are outstanding, the majority has insufficient knowledge. 4) System of higher education should have significant financial support from the government.
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A paper brings up the autonomy of university and usefulness of higher education teaching. Thinking about the usefulness of the university should not lead to professional training, but to personal development. A value of education lies in preparing human to unknown. The author emphasizes that the university, which stays a social institution, should prepare individuals to constant, critical reflection on themselves and the world. To achieve this goal, university should be capable of autonomous thinking liberated from foreign influence. The autonomy of the university, understood also as negation of the scientific objectivity, is based on communication and openness to the other. It builds "being together" relation. In conclusion the author introduces the concept of integrity and finds its application to the university understood both as individuals (truthfulness, modesty, honesty) and institution ("pursuit of truth" with an emphasis on the "pursuit").
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A debate about contemporary university is carried out on quite a few different levels and covers the following areas: idea of university, its autonomy, its adaptation (usefulness) to the labor market. The contemporary university is considered much more as pedagogical institution than research unit. The implemented reform of higher education system left many problems unregulated. The author presents the following: 1) an academic staff employment (work for more academic institution), 2) a relation between autonomy of the university and National Qualifications Framework, 3) research which has to be carried out on the imposed topics and commercialization of research results, 4) stability of academic human resources. Responsibility to the university cannot be designed and stimulated only by the law. The author suggests to return to the model of élite university which guarantees high quality of teaching.
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The culture of silence characterizes the environment of poverty, operating both at the structural and the individual level. According to Paulo Freire culture is never accidental but originates as the result of a perennial coercion mechanism, through which the oppressors depersonalize and force their victims to submission. The only true way of liberation of the oppressed leads through the realization their own situation, and earning a new, critical consciousness (conscientizaçao) together with a sense of brotherhood. It allows to engage in the praxis of humanization that is not an attempt to imitate the oppressor's life but to eradicate the dualistic model of dependency. Taking responsibility for one's fate is an indispensable precondition for the change of the deterministic and fatalistic mentality, as well as an improvement of the situation of the poor.
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A paper undertakes a concept of metropolitan locality. The metropolitan locality is defined by specific thinking, characteristic celebration of life, local pride, roots and at the same time by tolerance, openness and hospitality. The author presents Barcelona and Paris as those metropolises where ethnicalisation of urban space can be observed. The locality of metropolis keeps a relation between intimate and public areas, celebrates separate "being" in a city. The metropolitan locality is a social and cultural project. It is the starting point to define the difference. The opening to otherness is only possible from the place one is deeply-rooted.
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The main idea expressed in the article concerns the necessity of fallibility and fallible intellectuals in the cultural dynamics. We argue that, hypothetically, an infallible wise man would have a disastrous influence on culture, fostering stagnation. The fallible intellectual, offering questionable, controversial or destructible statements, is far more apt to foster the cultural growth. His role is not to propose ready-made solutions, but to open new spaces of discussion, doubt and examination. Taking as starting point the jeremiad of Mark Lilla against the "reckless mind", we pass to moderated points of view expressed by Edward Said, and finally search for an extra-European example illustrating the role of intellectuals in cultures passing through stages of accelerated change.
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Two very important documents: "Magna Carta Universitatum" and "Bologna Declaration" define the universities as important players in contemporary economy. It results in the development of market-oriented programmes, internships and engagement in building entrepreneurial attitudes. The "Europe of Knowledge", which is considered to be an important factor for social and human growth, evokes questions about the role of education. The universities should seek balance between "usefulness" of academic knowledge and "open attitude toward the world". If we agree that the Universities are the trustees of humanistic tradition, higher education institutions should redefine their objectives. They should teach (not instruct) open-minded students who will create "thinking" society. Otherwise, ages of the university tradition will be replaced by global market approach.
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The paper discusses the "Mount Saint Helens" sections from Gary Snyder's Danger on Peaks (2004) with regards to the poet's first snowpeak climb and Native American beliefs that relate to the Pacific Northwest. The volcano, seen as the vehicle for one's closer and careful look at the terrain, becomes a poetic and intimate center of the world, where the poet correlates his vision, recollections, and language with those left by the Native peoples of the land. The mountain is rendered a point of intersection, where divergent cultural and religious trails meet in order to re-create the view of Loowit, as well as to arouse the hidden human emotions of fear, remarkable elation, admiration and awe when the human faces the forces of nature. The elemental and the human, disasters and catastrophes, are here to bring forth the seeds of awareness of the fragile, momentary feeling of interdependence as well as responsibility between the human and nature.
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On 16 September 1666, Sabbatai Zevi arrived at the Sultan’a palace in Adrianopol. Several hours later, he left the palace wearing Muslin garb, with a turban on his head, and the new name of Mehmed. He also received the honorable title of Guardian of the Gates, which carried with it a life pension and the right to live in the Sultan’s palace. Turkish sources say nothing about the circumstances of Sabbatai’s conversion and his subsequent activities. Sabbatai’s Jewish adversaries maintained that he was forced to convert, and this is the version of events accepted by Jewish historiography. The historians of Judaism agree with regard to the circumstances of Sabbatai Zevi’s conversion to Islam. We come across such explanations as “He converted to Islam to escape execution”. But this hypothesis is not supported by any available source materials. The religious laws and Islamic customs forbade forcing Christians and Jews to convert to Islam. It would be difficult to assume that such coercion took place in the presence of the Sultan and senior dignitaries of the state. Several days after his conversion, Sabbatai himself spoke of the adoption ofthe Islamic faith as the fulfillment of God’s will. For him, this was more than a change of the professed faith. After the switch to the new religion, he felt like a reborn person. He never regretted that choice and regarded it as an important milestone in the implementation of his mission. Neither the his closest associates mention that the Messiah’s conversion was a forced one. It is also striking how forbearing the Sultan was toward the Jewish convert, who did not renounce his Messianic mission. How can one assess the rulers‘ tacit acceptance of the actions of Sabbatai and his fellow converts, incompatible with Muslin law, such as going to synagogue or observing Jewish holy days? Anyone else would be deemed an apostate and condemned to death. Was is possible to imagine such special treatment in the case of a convert who only embraced Islam because he was forced to? There is every indication that Sabbatai came to the Sultan’s palace to attend a formal act of conversion to Islam that was agreed in advance. Sabbatai sailed from Smyrna to Istanbul to meet the Sultan on 30 December 1665. Sabbatai’s adversary, Yaacov Sasportas, wrote that already on 5 December 1665 Sabbatai dispatched his crony Abraham Shebili to Istanbul, in order to arrange his arrival. During Sabbatai’s audience before the Sultan, the turban was to be formally placed on his head. The Turkish rulers must have had a priori knowledge of the plan, which explains their tolerance toward the Jews’ Messianic acts.
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