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1

History as an ocean

100%

Bemben A.

Review of International American Studies

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2014

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vol. 7

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issue 1

EN

‘But there is a huge difference between writing a historical novel and writing history. If I may put it like this: history is like a river, and the historian is writing about the ways the river flows and the currents and crosscurrents in the river. But, within this river, there are also fish, and […] I am interested in the fish. The novelist’s approach to the past, through the eyes of characters, is substantially different from the approach of the historian’. This quotation might seem to have been taken from some pre-narrative-turn text whose author appears to profess the conviction that the scientific status of history and the fictional character of literature is what makes these two modes of writing about the past essentially different. In fact, these words come from Amitav Ghosh, a contemporary historian, social anthropologist, historical fiction writer who, more than forty years after the Linguistic Turn, seems to advocate a new version of ‘wie es eigentlich gewesen’ and literature opposition. Starting with Dipesh Chakrabarty’s arguments in favor of ‘regional and global configurations in modern history’, I would like to use them to criticize Ghosh’s idea of history as a river and put forward a thesis that history is like an ocean and if we understand it as such, then the boundary between writing a historical novel and history might be considered conventional and possible to be blurred. In order to justify this thesis I intend to provide a series of arguments supported mainly by Hayden White’s philosophy of history presented in Metahistory and Hans-Georg Gadamer’s theory of understanding from Truth and Method. In conclusion, I point to idiosyncrasies of the ocean-like perspective on history as a construct alternative to this proposed by Amitav Ghosh.

2

MythBusters, or Why “the Only Difference Between Screwing Around and Science Is Writing It down"

100%

Bemben A.

Świat i Słowo

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2021

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vol. 36

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issue 1

29-43

PL

Artykuł przedstawia analizę popularno-naukowego programu MythBusters wskazującą na różne sposoby wykorzystania w nim nauki. Na podstawie przeprowadzonej analizy, po pierwsze, twierdzę, że popkultura początku XXI wieku generuje produkty, w których wykorzystanie nauki na różnorakie sposoby urasta do roli standardu. Po drugie, sugeruję, że takie zastosowanie nauki przekłada się na jej upraszczanie na korzyść promocji rozrywki, nawet w programach, które są lub przynajmniej zdają się być wycelowane w przekazywanie wiedzy.

EN

This article focuses on the popular-science programme MythBusters to illustrate the various ways in which it employs science. On the basis of my analysis of these, I, first, argue that the popculture of the early twenty-first century generates products in which multiple uses of scientific activity are a standard. Second, it is also substantiated that this multiplication of the uses of science translates into it being forfeited in favour of entertainment even in broadcasts that are, or at least seem, targeted at it.

3

Old future, new past, or how Neil Gaiman tinkers with temporality in Marvel 1602

100%

Bemben A.

Świat i Słowo

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2020

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vol. 34

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issue 1

159-175

EN

The purpose of this article is to substantiate the thesis that, in the Marvel 1602 series, there is a common denominator of the narrative mechanisms with which its author embeds fiction in history and reworks selected characters from the so-called mainstream Marvel continuity. As such denominator, I see the idea of repeatability of situational and behavioural patterns. With this end in view, I open this work by outlining how selected events of the so-called “age of heroes” are transplanted into the Elizabethan age. Second, I show how chosen Marvel characters are reworked to match the sixteenth- and seventeenth-century context. Third, I expand on the reiterative quality of the mechanisms the author uses for these purposes to support the view that the repeatability of situational and behavioural patterns is the main idea informing the narrative structure of Marvel 1602. In the conclusion section, I capitalise on the presented findings and suggest their potential implications.

4

The Popcultural Life of Science: Back and Forth

63%

Jajszczok J., Bemben A.

Świat i Słowo

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2021

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vol. 36

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issue 1

9-13

PL

Artykuł stanowi wprowadzenie do 36. (1/2021) numeru półrocznika „Świat i słowo”. Autorzy skupiają się na temacie numeru, czyli na tym, jak nauka jest wykorzystywana i nadużywana w kontekście kultury popularnej. W drugiej części przedstawiono główne tezy artykułów poświęconych problematyce poruszanej w numerze.

EN

The article introduces the 36th (1/2021) issue of the “World and Word” semi-annual. The authors present the theme of the issue, i.e. how science is used and abused in the popular culture setting. In the second part, the main theses of articles devoted to the topic in the issue are introduced.

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History as an ocean

MythBusters, or Why “the Only Difference Between Screwing Around and Science Is Writing It down"

Old future, new past, or how Neil Gaiman tinkers with temporality in Marvel 1602

The Popcultural Life of Science: Back and Forth