The paper offers a comprehensive, synthetic account of the discourse on the subject of the Polish Eastern Borderland over the course of the last hundredyears. It analyses the ways in which the understanding of the notion of Kresy and “borderland”, as well as the strategies for presenting the term, have changed, including attempts to replace this category with other terms. Furthermore, the paper characterises the dynamics concerning the transformations of situational contexts that emerged in the period of the Second Polish Republic, developed during World War II, after 1945 (in the country and abroad) and continuing from the 1980s and1990s to the present. Significant interpretative perspectives include, among others, the trends in literary schools, the legends and myths of the Polish Eastern Borderland, the notion of the borderline of cultures, small homelands, and methodological phrases and breakthroughs (spatial turn, geopoetics, postcolonial criticism).
The paper offers a comprehensive, synthetic account of the Polish Eastern Borderland discourse on the subject over the course of the last century. It analyzes the ways in which the understanding of the notion of Kresy and “borderland”, as well as the strategies of presenting the term have been changing, including the attempts to replace this category with other terms. Furthermore, the paper characterizes the dynamics concerning the transformations of situational contexts which emerged in the period of the Second Polish Republic, developed in the times of World War II, after 1945 (in the country and abroad), and continue from the 80s and 90s of the twentieth century to our present. Significant interpretative perspectives include, among others, the trend of literary schools, the legend and myth of Polish Eastern Borderland, the notion of the borderline of cultures, small homelands, and methodological phrases and breakthroughs (spatial turn, geopoetics, postcolonial criticism).
The author’s attention is focused on the analysis of Zdzisław Grodecki’s novel entitled “Wyprawa Wołodyjowskiego na kresy” (“Wołodyjowski’s expedition to the Eastern Borderlands”) published in 1929 in Lviv. The novel is set in the context of various discourses, among which the discourse on the Eastern Borderlines appears to be the most significant one, as it regards interwar Polish Eastern Territories as a strongold preserving the Polish identity. Crucial to Grodecki’s work are references to a cult classic “The Trilogy” by Henryk Sienkiewicz, including the notion of characters on “loan” which is enhanced by a strategy which might be described as a follow-up. The author of the paper analyzes the presence of literary symbols within national community, stereotyping, as well as coaxing strategies.
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).
Presented article is an introduction to the discussion devoted to literary representations of borderland conflicts. Borderland understood as an imagined sphere of confrontation between various interests and social groups is presented in literature not only as space of peaceful coexistence of diverse communities and varieties but also as the domain of conflict and confrontation of social groups and individuals. It seems that so far the images of borderland conflicts have not been sufficiently reflected in literature studies. This article is an attempt to systematize detailed issues connected with these problems.
The year when the eighth number of “Themes and Contexts” is published, is unique because we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the restoration of Poland’s sovereignty. It is also an opportunity to look at the contractual century of the “new” Polish literature. In this context of “duration and changeability”, it is important to discuss the work of outstanding poets and writers of the last century, as well as interpretations of important works. This is a convenient time both for reappraisals and for new interpretations seen from a variable, literary perspective. Thinking about Polish literature in 1918-2018, we had in mind the attempts to establish the hierarchy of the most important literary phenomena in the context of political, constitutional and transformational changes. These issues are discussed in the first group of texts entitled Synthesis and reappraisals. Another group of problems connected with the subject of (Post)modern reading introduces the circle of detailed considerations. The research of Polish literature of the last century is conducted by the authors in two ways. In the first one, the researchers adopted a comparative perspective and analyzed new works compiled with works from the interwar period. The second variant is dominated by the synchronous perspective, in which the authors’ attention is focused on the originality of the latest works and contemporary methodologies of studying a literary work and “modern” contexts (social-media, pop-culture, hyper-text, blogosphere, etc.). The study of contemporary literature in the context of the works of the past century has resulted in interesting literary and cultural findings. This section, titled Views, is a voice of researchers asking for the restoration of forgotten literary writings, artists (Gniatczyński), single works. The articles collected in the volume authorize the conclusion that these conventional chronological frames cover many literary phenomena, as well as the names of writers who created and create an image of Polish literature of the last century.
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