This review of Tomasz Szymon Markiewka’s book, entitled Interpretation Argument in Literary Studies. Analysis of Selected Theoretical Conceptions of 20th Century, focuses on reconstruction of its main theses, as well as on evaluate their methodological aspects. The first part deals with theoretical issues, mainly of terminological decisions and relation between the literature studies and philosophy. Next, article assesses the pros and cons of the main part of the book, which contains analysis of five selected theorists’ ideas of interpretation. The final part of the review raises the issue of the method of interpretation literary texts.
The aim of the paper is to criticize Stanley Fish's views on interdisciplinarity (particularly as far as his account of interdisciplinarity in literary studies is concerned). The first part of the article consists of: (a) a summary of his critique of the so-called religion of interdisciplinarity; (b) a description of Fish's theory of disciplinarity that underlies this critique. In the second part of the article, I provide a criticism of Fish's theory. I begin by presenting some counterexamples to it. Then I attempt to demonstrate that Fish's views are self-refuting. Finally, I argue that besides these theoretical reasons, there is also a practical reason why Fish's position needs to be questioned.
In the contemporary literary studies, the category ‘motto’ has a well-established position, although one often meets an opinion that a uniform theory of universal motto has not been developed yet. This article is an attempt to synthesise the existing findings about the motto. It presents an overview of the most interesting research positions. This allows us to illustrate, in general terms, how the meaning of the motto changed from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century, and how it evolved from a very general blurry meaning to the one representing the main characteristics of intertextuality.
The given article is an introduction to the discussion devoted to poetics as a literary discipline as well as a subject of university and school teaching. It includes an attempt to order the issues connected with the philosophical foundations of the discipline, its competences and opportunities for development, its limits and constraints, its status among other literary disciplines and its functional dimension. Moreover, the authors of the article underline the ability of poetics to cover the continuously growing spectrum of literary and non-literary phenomena and to express an individual reading experience. The authors also take a look at the range of terms and categories of which poetics makes use. The given deliberations are to invite to reflection on the state of poetics in the contemporary literary studies.
PL
Artykuł stanowi wprowadzenie do dyskusji poświęconej stanowi poetyki jako dyscypliny literaturoznawczej, a także jako przedmiotu dydaktyki akademickiej i szkolnej. Zawiera próbę uporządkowania zagadnień związanych z filozoficznymi podstawami tej dyscypliny, jej kompetencjami i możliwościami rozwoju, jej granicami i ograniczeniami, jej statusem w obrębie innych dyscyplin literaturoznawczych oraz jej wymiarem funkcjonalnym. Autorzy artykułu zwracają ponadto uwagę na zdolność poetyki do ogarniania stale rosnącego spektrum zjawisk literackich i pozaliterackich oraz wyrażania indywidualnego doświadczenia lekturowego, przyglądają się także repertuarowi pojęć i kategorii, którymi się posługuje. Przedstawione tu rozważania są wstępem do refleksji nad stanem poetyki we współczesnym literaturoznawstwie. Dyskusja na ten temat została zaprezentowana w czasopiśmie "Tematy i Konteksty" 2013, nr 3 (8).
A Selection of the Decade is a special issue of Tematy i Konteksty, a literary studies journal which has been published in Poland since 2011. This special issue is a collection of articles that were published in Polish in former issues of the journal and have now been translated into English to reach English-speaking readers.
The interpretational study "Masks of Desire" is based on the novel by Michal Ajvaz - Cesta na jih [Journey to the South] although its line of argument takes considerable account of the author´s entire fictional and theoretical output to date, as the connection both between individual fictional texts and between them and the theoretical texts is very close and evident here. First the study casts doubt on the classification of Michal Ajvaz´s work as postmodernist, as this only applies - as in the case of other "labels" (magic Prague literature, magical realism) that have been stuck on Ajvaz´s work - on the basis of superficial similarities. This study does not refute the association with formal principles of discourse that is designated postmodern, but it does stress that Ajvaz´s work departs intellectually from such discourse, while referring at the same time to the author´s repeated polemics with postmodernism at the level of theoretical considerations. Attention is also focused on the concept of the "total void", the intertextual and self-reflective aspect of the author´s work, the relationship to myth or the motif of desire and the specific conception of the erotic.
The article is an extensive review of Joseph North’s book Literary Criticism: A Concise Political History. The author divides the 20th and 21st century literary studies into two orientations: critics and researchers, showing that the domination of the research perspective from the 80s led to a paradoxical depoliticization of criticism and deprivation of its intervention potential. To restore the critical potential, North postulates a return to materialistic aesthetics under the sign of I.A. Richards, which allows him to cross the research horizon in a gesture of intervention into a common reality, justified by a specific aesthetic experience.
Th e purpose of the article is to show comparatistics as a promising perspective of current humanistic research, especially in area of extending possibilities of analysis and interpretation. In times of profesionalization and specialization of knowledge, comparative research are rarely undertaken and for that reason, it makes a cognitively and interpretatively interesting situation. Th e case analysis applies to using comparative method on the ground of history of historiography (A. Kożuchowski) and literary studies (D. Zawadzka).
PL
The purpose of the article is to show comparatistics as a promising perspective of current humanistic research, especially in area of extending possibilities of analysis and interpretation. In times of profesionalization and specialization of knowledge, comparative research are rarely undertaken and for that reason, it makes a cognitively and interpretatively interesting situation. The case analysis applies to using comparative method on the ground of history of historiography (A. Kożuchowski) and literary studies (D. Zawadzka).
The text is a brief description of the present condition and rank of literary studies in the context of historical evolution of its role and changing characteristics of its subject – literature. The author, inspired by revealing remarks of Th. W. Adorno, believes that the current position of literary studies in contemporary humanities, culture and society depends to a large extent on the perspectives for creating transdisciplinary textual science (bearing in mind that the prototype example of text is a literary text).
The article contains a synthetic overview of the trilogy The Age of Theory, edited by Danuta Ulicka. It is the first comprehensive study of the achievements of Polish theoretical literary studies since its birth in the 1920s. The edition includes a multi-author monograph, organized according to “cultural themes” (as understood by Opler), to which the author of the article devotes most of her attention,and an extensive selection of texts preceded by factual introductions (two volumes of anthology) representative of the problem blocks discussed in the first part. Without questioning the content of the anthology, and especially the cognitive value of the monograph, which is based on innovative methodological assumptions and proves that modern literary theory was born in Central and Eastern Europe, and Polish works played an important role in its development, the author wishes it included the work of W. Borowy, the pioneer of intertextuality or J. Baudouin de Courtenay’s texts, which foresaw heteroglosia and minus-device.
The article is a review of a volume entitled “Interkulturelle Blicke auf Migrationsbewegungen in alten und neuen Texten”. The volume contains papers on the still common phenomenon of migration, analysed from an intercultural perspective. In their papers, both theoretical ones and those based on corpus research, the authors adopt innovative methodological approaches and refer to various academic disciplines in order to analyse old and new (literary) texts relating to migration.
A Polish scholar, literary critic, university lecturer, theatre lover, great organiser and speaker, an associate of a number of scholarly journals and newspapers, a man of impeccable manners, and patriot, Marian Szyjkowski undoubtedly stands out as one of the most outstanding examples of the Polish-Czech research co-operation, or even of a much wider ‘mission – to bring both nations closer to each other‘. Szyjkowski‘s life began in Lviv, then the capital of Galicia of an autonomous era. The atmosphere of his family home, the Polish-language high school and an extremely high level of university studies were a formative infl uence on Szejkowski. Next came Kraków, with its Jagiellonian Library, subsequent degrees, signifi cant publications, PAU (the Polish Academy of Learning) membership. His life nevertheless took the main turn when Szyjkowski became the Head of a newly established Department of Polish Language and Literature at Charles University in Prague.
This article considers the consequences of rejecting axiological ambiguity in the sphere of human experiences and reflection, as observed in statements made by lower secondary school children as part of a study Teaching language and literature in secondary school in light of the new core curriculum. The negative consequences are indicated of interpreting the world as one locked in the values of extreme opposition, based on an analysis of students’ interpretations of Balladyna by Juliusz Słowacki and Memoir of the Warsaw Uprising by Miron Białoszewski. The risks may include alienating the student from reality, as well as the reformulation of values into a set of anti-values, which excludes the possibility of reaching interpersonal agreement. Constructing a personal axiological system on this basis can occur only at the cost of discrediting the values of others, who are denied the right to have them from the outset. In such a world, there is no place for dialogue about values differing from those already held.
The anthology, in which the doctoral students from the universities in Trnava, Ústí nad Labem and Wrocław express themselves scientifically, was created under the project “Internalization and development of doctoral studies“. The aim of this anthology is to publish the texts of postgraduate students from Slovakia, Poland and the Czech Republic. The diverse topics from the field of linguistics and literature were seized in the anthology. Writers such as Georg Trakl, Jan Faktor, Thomas Mann or Stanislav Struhar are the focus of some of the articles. Such motives as landscape, garden, identity or migration are also discussed. The linguistic texts deal with compound words, lexemes, swear words, cardinal vowels and language varieties. The topics presented provide a good basis for further discussions. A total of 17 articles can be found here. They are proof that young people are interested in science and they research new topics by themselves. The diversity of subjects indicates that linguistics and literature are a repository of knowledge.
Autor recenzji omawia książkę "Masculinities and Literary Studies. Intersections and New Directions", poświęconą związkom między krytycznymi studiami nad mężczyznami i męskością a literaturoznawstwem. Rekonstruuje pozycję „badań męskościowych” na przecięciu nauk społecznych i humanistycznych. Na podstawie najbardziej aktualnych publikacji zwraca uwagę na zjawiska kryzysowe w ich obrębie, a także na możliwości rozwoju. Omawiany tom wpisuje się w pejzaż teoretyczny i wskazuje nowe obszary dociekań w ramach literaturoznawstwa i badań męskości.
EN
The reviewer discusses the book entitled "Masculinities and Literary Studies. Intersections and New Directions" devoted to the connections between the critical studies in males, masculinity and literary studies. He reconstructs the position of masculinity research at the crossroads of social sciences and the humanities. As based on the latest publications, he points at the crises found within their scope and at the developmental potential. The volume in question finds its place in a theoretical base and points at new spheres of investigations within the framework of literary studies and research in masculinity.
The article’s goal is to reflect on the perception of literary studies as an academic discipline in the 19th century Poland in the twenties and the thirties. The answer to this question may be found in lectures given in that time period at the University of Warsaw and at Vilnius University. The author analyzes excerpts of works by L. Borowski, E. Słowacki, L. Osiński and K. Brodziński in which they define the object of their studies and extrapolate on their methodological tenets. The analysis concludes with an attempt at defining the foremost tendencies in Polish literary studies of the time period, especially in regards to the relationship between the history of literature, literary theory and literary criticism.
The article opens with a statement that dramaturgical creativity, long marginalized by literary studies, has returned to the area of its interest together with its researchers’ use of the achievements of performative and cultural turns. Taking these into account allows us to treat drama as a distinctive literary practice in which the reception of a text is exemplary. As the author claims, with the New Humanities, integrating scattered reading perspectives known to the history of literary studies into the horizons of New Positivity, dramatic studies enrich this standpoint and maintain a critical view making creative use of the antagonism of perspectives, confrontation of attitudes, conflict of qualities or different visions and ideas. The potential tensions revealed in the practice of active reading of a literary text in accordance with the dramatic matrix guarantee the positive effects of each act of engaged reading. The dramatization of tradition is a specific field of critical dialogue between the reader and the existing literary tradition. Three dramatic works by Jan Czapliński are indicated as examples of mediators for this dialogue. The work of this playwright presents and suggests a critical reading of the characters and works of Gabriela Zapolska, Henryk Sienkiewicz and Adam Mickiewicz, leading to the emancipation of their works that is situated beyond the framework of the discursively created, existing canon of contemporary Polish literature and culture. A critical view enriches and updates the canon. Dramatization, which allows the revaluation of existing values, appears as the basic category of contemporary art – revealing existing, usually ineffable conflicts and using them to build new, positive values.
This publication contains polemic commentaries to the text by BeataGarlej „Panorama badań aksjologicznych we współczesnym literaturoznawstwie polskim” [Panorama of axiological research in contemporary Polish literary studies] („Tematy i Konteksty” 11(16)/2021). This publication has been divided into three parts: “Lublin school (KUL school)”, “Torun school” and “Warsaw school”. The lack of the authoress’s explanations of her understanding of the term ‘school’ allows tooverestimate the significance of “Torun school” and underestimate the significance of “»Garden« school”.
PL
Publikacja zawiera polemiczne dopowiedzenia do tekstu Beaty Garlej „Panorama badań aksjologicznych we współczesnym literaturoznawstwie polskim” („Tematy i Konteksty” 11(16)/2021). Publikacja ta została podzielona na trzy części: „Szkoła lubelska (KUL-owska”), „Szkoła toruńska”, „Szkoła warszawska”. Brak wyjaśnienia Autorki jak jest przez nią rozumiane słowo „szkoła” sprzyja przeszacowaniu „szkoły toruńskiej” i niedoszacowaniu „szkoły »Ogrodu«”.
The guest editor's preface devoted to the key ideas for the contemporary literary theory and liberature, which introduces the debates foregrounded in this issue.
PL
Wstęp autorstwa redaktorki gościnnej wprowadzający kluczowe zagadnienia dla liberatury, współczesnej teorii literatury i komentujący zagadnienia, którym poświęcony jest niniejszy numer.
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