The aim of this essay is to show a way of using the tools of micropoetics to analyse a specific text, Erskine Caldwell’s novel Journeyman, which represents a specific genre of literary utterance, and also the influence of the New Journalism on Caldwell’s technique. Important here is the small size of the work analyzed, the belief in the role of chance, everyday occurrence, colloquial style, the lack of literary references or borrowings, and the specific method of presenting the characters. A characteristic feature of Erskine Caldwell’s prose is also the dramatization of certain scenes and an effort to “theatricalize” the characters.
PL
Celem tego eseju jest pokazanie sposobu wykorzystania narzędzi mikropoetyki do analizy konkretnego tekstu, opowieści Erskine Caldwella Sługa boży, stanowiącej specyficzny gatunek wypowiedzi literackiej, a także – wpływu The New Journalism na warsztat pisarza. Ważna jest tutaj niewielka objętość analizowanego utworu, przekonanie o roli przypadku, codziennego zdarzenia, styl kolokwialny, brak literackich odniesień i zapożyczeń, szczególny sposób przedstawienia bohaterów. Cechą charakterystyczną prozy E. Caldwella jest także fakt udramatyzowania poszczególnych scen oraz podjęcie próby „teatralizacji” postaci.
The aim of the essay is to present a special “episode” in the work of a mature writer, the text addressed both to young, teenager and adult readers. A good example proves to be the prose by Erskine Caldwell, Georgia Boy (1943). Previously Caldwell created Tobacco Road (1932), God’s Little Acre (1933), Journeyman (1935) and Trouble in July (1940). It seems important that Caldwell became close to Polish readers in the second decade of the twentieth century when it was “fashionable” to read this type of American literature, exposing the brutal and miserable life of the “black” South. But novels created between 1932 and 1940 are texts addressed to a mature reader. Stories mentioned above are full of brutality and violence. But the collection of short stories Georgia Boy seems to be different. Caldwell shows there his positive and full of sensitivity attitude to common people and their humble, not complicated lives. It would also be interesting to examine from this special perspective, comparing artistic biography of the author with the creation of the narrator in prose dedicated not only to young people as Georgia Boy seems to be. Caldwell is also a writer whose masterpieces have had a particular impact on the perception of the literature of the twentieth century of the generation of Polish readers, who are nowadays elderly and well-educated people.
The inspiration for this text writing became doctoral seminars, devoted to the theatre of Jerzy Grotowski at the University of Gdansk. During the course, led by Professor Jan Ciechowicz from January to May 2015 it turned out that there was no preserved film documentation of the performances by Laboratory Theatre. The only chance to “watch” the most important spectacles was to use some documentary references, some essays and theatrical reviews, published in the second half of the former century It seemed that the only critic who was able to help us in our analysis and penetrations was Konstanty Puzyna. He has created some special way of writing, of “showing” reader the spectacle, what he could not personally see. In this kind of experimental writing the main tools seemed to be some “pieces” of reportage, documentary text, or nonfiction. This review is about the way in which typical pieces of reportage can be used in modern art criticism, especially in writing about some kind of the experimental theatre. It is also about crossing the border between nonfiction and fictional literature. In the first part some general view of the problem is given, in the main body – the detailed analysis of “Apocalypsis cum figuris” shown by the prism of Puzyna’s text “The return of Christ” – is done.
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