Prace Literaturoznawcze

Międzynarodowa konferencja naukowa Doświadczenie biograficzne w perspektywie badań nad II wojną światową. Między przeszłością a teraźniejszością, Olsztyn 6–7 maja 2022 roku

Anna Kwiatkowska, Dorota Gładkowska — Sat, 05 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Sprawozdanie z 65-lecia "Komunikatów Mazursko-Warmińskich", Olsztyn, 28 kwietnia 2023 roku

Joanna Chłosta-Zielonka — Sat, 05 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Wiesław Kazanecki, "Poezje zebrane", t. I-II, red. nauk. Jarosław Ławski, Michał Siedlecki, współpr. red. Jolanta Gadek, Łukasz Zabielski, Wydawnictwo Prymat: Książnica Podlaska im. Łukasza Górnickiego w Białymstoku, Białystok 2021, ss. 736

Wiktor Gardocki — Sat, 05 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Joanna Chłosta-Zielonka, Terapeutyczny wymiar gatunków autobiograficznych w wypowiedziach autorek XX i XXI wieku, Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Warmińsko-Mazurskiego, Olsztyn 2021, ss. 260

Beata Walęciuk-Dejneka — Sat, 05 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Anstelle einer Autobiographie? Schreiben über die Shoah in Stanisław Lems Apokryfy

Alfred Gall — Sat, 05 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

This paper focuses on Lem’s transition from autobiographical writing to paratextual discourses. This shift is discussed as reaction to the delegitimized position of the subject, especially after the Shoah and wartime experiences. When Lem deals with wartime experiences he doesn’t resort to autobiographical writing and, hence, won’t write a sequel to the self-portrait about his childhood and adolescence in Wysoki Zamek (The High Castle, 1966). Instead, the writer creates in some of his works paratextual narratives that reflect the new, distorted subjectivity which emerged in the aftermath of the Shoah. With this rupture of civilisation in mind Lem’s paratextual writing represents a criticism of subjectivity as well as the autobiographical foundations in memoirs. In his approach Lem outlines the profile of a modern subjectivity that echoes the critical reassessment of the subject in Critical Theory (Adorno, Horkheimer, Marcuse). This article tries to shed some light on this intriguing correspondence and attempts to highlight Lem’s understanding
as well as literary practice of post-autobiographical writing about the subject.

The group of paintings "Oświęcim/Auschwitz" (1947–1955) by Xawery Dunikowski – the artistic testimony of borderline experience

Karolina Tomczak — Sat, 05 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

This article presents an analysis of Xawery Dunikowski’s post-war paintings, a testimony to his stay in the Auschwitz concentration camp, i.e. the canvases of the cycle Oświęcim/Auschwitz (1947–1955). Based on this infrequently discussed kind of art, an attempt has been made to describe the visual representation of borderline experience, which, according to Georges Didi-Huberman, is a “tear-image” or a glimpse of an incomprehensible unprecedented truth, urging to a particularly cruel imaginability or, as Luiza Nader puts it, an expression of “affective memory”. At the same time, the considerations contribute to the research discourse on whether or to what extent it is possible to express the experience of a Konzentrationslager (or, more broadly, the Second World War) in visual representation. The complex issues and stylistics of these works are discussed in the light of methodology concerning the trauma of a witness, an affective observer, a surviving victim (Jacek Leociak, Aleida Assmann, Dominick LaCapra) and its evocation in the image (Didi-Huberman, Nader) thus allowing to consider them as a necessary artistic catharsis of the author of Tchnienie/A Breath of Air. At the same time, it has been pointed out that the painting of Dunikowski, a sculptor, individually reformulated in the artistic medium, non-masterly and in search of their own expression, is a recontextualising confirmation of his status as a modernist artist.

A displaced person’s settling of accounts: the grotesque image of the post-war order in the poetry of Tadeusz Borowski

Sławomir Sobieraj — Sat, 05 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The main thesis in the introductory part of the article argues that Tadeusz Borowski’s poems, written from the perspective of a DP camp inmate, involve the claim and show the image of reality after World War II in a grotesque way. The analysis of the selected poems of the post-war order grotesque covers three central issues: the personal feelings of a displaced person whose right to freedom has been taken away in a supposedly free world, the national concerns of Poles and the political situation after 1945. Borowski is shown as the creator of modern poetry, dominated by the grotesque, and he needs it in order to get to the hidden or concealed truth. The grotesque effect is achieved by using heterogeneity of the style, mixing a journalistic style and colloquial and vulgar expressions with highly sophisticated metaphors, mundane matters combined with national symbols and myths, and biologism opposing ideology. Moreover, the effect usually occurs in combination with the poetics of surprise and antinomy, supplemented with sarcasm and parody or absurdity. The grotesque serves as a supplement to realism and documentarism.

"The Spectre of Death" (October 31, 1943). Myth-making in the war prose of Aleksander Omiljanowicz and the autobiography of Władysław Świacki

Stefan Michał Marcinkiewicz — Sat, 05 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Relying on archival material, the author verified the story of the alleged Home Army action near Ełk (Germ. Lyck) on October 31, 1943, according to which a Home Army platoon under the command of Lt. Władysław Świacki was to carry out an attack on the SS detail who were executing Italian prisoners of war near the camp at Bogusze. It is recounted in The Spectre of Death by Aleksander Omiljanowicz (1965) and the autobiography of W. Świacki (2007). The study reconstructs the complex biographies of the protagonists of the engagement, i.e. Świacki and Czesław Nalborski. Also, attention is drawn to the plot elements in Omiljanowicz’s narrative (including the date of the engagement and the name of the SS commander), which were then adopted in the accounts of the combatants themselves. The analysis of archival documents from various periods indicates that this story is a legend created in the 1960s. Despite this, the action has remained a fragment of the collective memory of the war in the Ełk district to this day. On October 28, 1989, a monument to the successful attack on the SS men was erected in Nowa Wieś Ełcka. It still stands there, demonstrating that local memory is influenced by the myth-making practices of the Society of Fighters for Freedom and Democracy.

Elements of kitsch in the wartime journals of teenagers Hanna Zach and Renia Spiegel

Aldona Kiełpińska — Sat, 05 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Present in all areas of art for many years, the image of war and the Holocaust also features in novels and non-fiction literature. As the knowledge and popularity of the subject grew, the possibility of shocking the reader with dramatic content decreased, which in turn led to the emergence of a new, disturbing phenomenon. Specifically, the authors tend to exploit the borderlines of what actually shocks the reader, while works based on the memories of war are reduced to simplified and distorted kitsch. Literary kitsch is sometimes associated with sentimentalism, mawkishness and mannerisms of style. All such qualities can be found in the diaries of teenagers growing up during the Second World War: Hanka Zach and Renia Spiegel. The young age of the authors seems
to be the main reason why the memories they recorded gravitate towards kitsch; a defence mechanism aimed at repressing the most traumatic events from consciousness is involved as well.

Memory of the Holocaust in Henryk Grynberg’s volume of poetry "Dowód osobisty" [Personal ID]

Roman Bobryk — Sat, 05 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Virtually all of Henryk Grynberg’s work is devoted to the subject of the Holocaust. In the 2006 volume entitled Dowód osobisty, individual poems require not only knowledge of the Shoah but also of the author’s biography and other work. In many, the lyrical subject is endowed with
the poet’s own characteristics. Another modality of presenting the world - one seldom employed
in poetry - is through the utterance of a collective subject (the lyrical “us”, which may be identified with the Jewish nation), in which the focus shift from the personal, individual experience to a more general and objective scope. Also, numerous poems feature indirect allusions to Grynberg’s earlier work. Hence, their interpretation is contingent on the reader’s literary experience.

Military service and war experiences in the personal documents of Polish Tatars

Michał Łyszczarz — Sat, 05 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

This paper analyses memories of military service and life experiences from the time of World War II, present in the social consciousness of Polish Tatars. The memories of representatives of this small ethnic group have been preserved through personal documents (including diaries
and memoirs), which have been made public and published in print. The content analysis included a collection of sources consisting of 13 items.

Trans-Curzonia and border people. Ukrainians deported from Poland in Contemporary Ukrainian and Polish literature

Yulia Artymyshyn — Sat, 05 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

This article analyses the image of the contemporary Polish-Ukrainian borderland in Ukrainian literature, and for a comparative context, works by Polish writers are also included. The literary representation of Trans-Curzonia as a special border area, the ethnic borderland where Ukrainians lived before the deportation actions in 1940–1950, is examined. It is argued that the literary topography
of this area is the main focus of Polish authors, especially Andrzej Stasiuk. Above all, it is a space at the intersection of cultures and time, which exists somewhat separately and according to its own specific rules. It was noted that in the prose of the Ukrainian novelist Vasyl Makhno, the main themes are the community of deported Ukrainians and their lost ideal place (home) and nostalgia. In journalism, the main actors have been the communities of Ukrainians who remained in Poland and the witnesses and descendants of those deported in “Operation Vistula”.

Ujarzmiana kobieta. Cielesność matek w "Mrówkach" Marii Pawlikowskiej-Jasnorzewskiej

Ewelina Adamik — Sat, 05 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

This article is an attempt to describe subjectivation (assujettissement), the concept of Michel Foucault, based on the example of the story of women in the tragicomedy Ants written by Maria Pawlikowska-Jasnorzewska. The play, which was staged in 1936, has a complex compositional
idea. The first and third acts take place in a totalitarian insect state, while the second act intersects and completes the story of the ants, similarly illustrating the obligation to procreate in patriarchy. The allegory of the anthill was used by the writer to represent the process of politicisation of
the female body in the fascist system. The growing-up heroines of the tragedy try to oppose the ideology of the anthill by fighting for individual freedom, including the right to abortion. Michel Foucault, in Discipline and Punish. The Birth of Prison, describes a process of disciplining which
takes place on several layers of subjectification. To the first layer of “power-knowledge” pleasure is added and combined with sexuality as a political instrument. An important context for the above discussion is the thought of Elizabeth Grosz, the author of corporeal feminism, who postulates a non-dualistic perception of the individual. Corporeality, which is an important theme of Ants, is a place where the influences of power and knowledge merge. Pawlikowska-Jasnorzewska describes the story of a woman’s struggle for the right to freedom. The solution, as it seems, is love and the possibility of women and men working together. A society in which women are not forced to comply with the demands of reproductive politics will become healthier and happier.

Formy męskości i kobiecości we wczesnej twórczości Szczepana Twardocha

Piotr Wojtaszek — Sat, 05 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The forms of masculinity and femininity in Twardoch’s early works arise from a patriarchal and conservative vision of the world. Studying various aspects of these issues, the writer created characters representing the model of “internal” masculinity based on higher values (god, honour,
fatherland) and “external” masculinity based on material status, appearance, domination, violence, etc. Both models determine the social role of women, reducing them to a sexual object: a mother or a domestic servant. The writer presented patriarchy as beneficial to women; the
characters who rejected him quickly became unhappy. Twardoch’s later works broke this pattern, which led him to consider the crisis of masculinity.

Sygnatury matrifokalne w najnowszej polskiej poezji kobiet. Justyna Bargielska i Beata Patrycja Klary

Beata Morzyńska-Wrzosek — Sat, 05 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Based on the poetry of Justyna Bargielska and Beata Patrycja Klary, the article aims to present the experience of maternity which escapes generalisations, demanding an interpretation that is involved, affective, sensitive to mixing conventions, searching for internal relations, open to the
creation of unobvious meanings, provocations and contrariness. Bargielska’s matrifocal signature
is marked by melancholy and affirmation, while Klary introduces fragments of medical epicrisis and a prosthesis in the form of a reborn doll. Both poets use various registers and extreme means of expression; they condense images, giving voice to different semantic undertones in order to describe/introduce to literature an experience which, as it turns out, resists universal qualifications.

Cielesność (nie)obecna w narracjach postpamięciowych Magdaleny Tulli

Katarzyna Bielewicz-Jędros — Sat, 05 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The aim of this article is to draw attention to the ways in which borderline experience, described in Magdalena Tulli’s postmemory narratives (Włoskie szpilki, Szum), affects embodiment experience. The methods of presenting the unmet need for the closeness of the child with the maternal – traumatised – body and the consequences of the lack of this bond were analysed. The taboo of corporeality and its marginalisation in the narratives indicate the development of defence mechanisms against the traumatic past and, at the same time, become a source of identity problems for
the representative of the second generation. Moreover, the close attention paid to Alzheimer’s disease by one of the main characters in Tulli’s novels indicates a close relationship between the way of creating a postmemory narrative and the experience of corporeality.

„Trzeba cnoty i miłości”. Robactwo, moralność i natura w twórczości Edwarda Żeligowskiego

Grzegorz Igliński — Sat, 05 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

This work presents an analysis of literary works by Edward Żeligowski, who usually published under the pen name of Antoni Sowa. The analysis takes a zoomorphic perspective, identifying in the text terms related to objects usually referred to as vermin. The function of the following
names was determined: “insect”, “mosquito”, “butterfly”, “ant”, “fly”, “little fly”, “wisp” (in the meaning of “glow worm”), “wasp”, “spider”, “spider’s web”, “bee”, “vermin”, “worm” and “locust”. The majority of these names were used to characterise the moral and social attitudes of
a person – serving to expose the virtues or sins of the given individual. Only the names of some particular animals/creatures were used to present the world of nature, which, together with other image-creating elements, highlight the omnipotence of nature and indicate the Creator’s love. The conclusion emerges that Żeligowski’s creative works are outstanding in moral and social sensitivity as well as the tension between a great idea and the reality which obliterates it.

Confession, testimony, reader - the autobiographical character of "Zapiski dla zjawy" by Jerzy Stempowski

Paulina Szot-Słota — Sat, 05 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

This article is devoted to the process of transforming a personal narrative into a literary record. The analysis covers the attitudes of Jerzy Stempowski contained in the autobiographical journal entitled Notes for the ghost. It describes the relationship between the writer and the eponymous Zjawa, as well as the mourning process that followed her death. The main goal is to try to determine which of the attitudes is dominant. The problem of the recipient of the work as well as the intention with which it was written, is also raised.

Polacy o rzekomym narodowym socjalizmie Stefana Georgego

Beata Rudy — Sat, 05 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The controversy surrounding Stefan George as an alleged precursor of National Socialism is discernible in his Polish reception. The question of George’s links with National Socialism, or the possible lack thereof, is taken up in works by Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz, Paweł Hertz, Wilhelm Szewczyk, Krystyna Kamińska, Aleksander Rogalski and Andrzej Lam, among others. This article presents their content in a cross-cutting manner. The attitudes of Polish audiences towards
the problem of the ‘George – nationalist’ are very diverse. They include a strong condemnation of George as a co-creator of Nazi ideology, a distrust of George who unwittingly contributed to the later exploitation of his work and an apologia for George as a victim of the Nazi regime. The most recent reception of George is dominated by the narrative of a ‘George the humanist’, an opponent of nationalist and racist ideas whose name must be cleansed.

Journey to the East and national stereotypes. "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" as a depiction of contemporary social and cultural issues

Ewa Górecka — Sat, 05 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The subject of this analysis is the image of a contemporary trip to the East and national stereotypes (Englishman, Indian) in the movie The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. The image of the trip to India is analysed from the perspective of Bauman’s metaphors of postmodern life, in which the
redefinition of identity is inscribed. The journey in Madden’s work is presented as an escapade somewhere between the expedition of a tourist and the wanderings of a vagabond, thus constituting a metaphor for the contemporary life of senile people originating from Western culture. The
use of national stereotypes (auto-images, hetero-images) and the transformations taking place within them are reflected upon. It turns out that the image of the trip of the elderly English people to India combines comedic elements with reflections on the key phenomena of contemporary
culture, such as a new form of life, the cult of experience characteristic of the West as a condition for the development of the individual, and the formation of a new stereotype of the journey and its participant.

Po ciemnej stronie mocy. Przypadek Waldemara Batury

Iwona Gralewicz-Wolny — Sat, 05 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The starting point for the considerations contained in the article is the “long duration” in the minds and hearts of readers, initiated half a century ago, of a series of books about the adventures of Pan Samochodzik (Mr. Automobile). Its author, Zbigniew Nienacki, reached for the formula of an adventure novel for young people, giving it an individual mark. One of its manifestations is the
specific relationship between the protagonist and the antagonist of the novel, i.e. the titular Pan Samochodzik and Waldemar Batura, who plays the role of a villain in selected parts of the cycle. The article quotes and comments on a number of scenes illustrating the game with the participation of both characters, the essence of which is a different approach to ethical issues accompanying
their profession. Solving historical puzzles, Nienacki dressed up in the costume of the fight between good and evil, taking special care of Batura’s demonic staffage and then skilfully breaking it, which allowed to nuance the eternal plot pattern known, for example, from the film adventures
of James Bond, to which Nienacki discreetly refers.

"Niesamowity dwór" Zbigniewa Nienackiego − między zagadką a tajemnicą

Beata Mytych-Forajter — Sat, 05 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The article by Beata Mytych-Forajter Niesamowity dwór by Zbigniew Nienacki – between a riddle and a mystery, is a proposal for reading one of the novels from the series about Pan Samochodzik (Mr. Automobile). The subject of interest became the unsolvable dilemma between the construction of a detective novel, operating a convention consisting of clues, riddles, false and true clues, and
higher-order mysteries, such as the afterlife, the possibility of contact with the dead, the spiritual dimension
of the world. As a result of the analysis, it turns out that Nienacki’s novel, despite its strong connection with the convention of detective fiction, also leaves the reader with a considerable amount of unsolvable mystery situated close to the psychoanalytic way of thinking about the human psyche

Współczesny nastolatek i Pan Samochodzik. Za co pokolenie Z może pokochać prozę Zbigniewa Nienackiego?

Aleksandra Sobańska — Sat, 05 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The article contains a theoretical reflection on the issue of the reception of Zbigniew Nienacki’s most famous series by young people. The author tries to explain the lack of interest in these works and is convinced of the attractiveness of these texts for the contemporary young audience. The article also aims to present the fictional motifs in the series of crime novels by Zbigniew Nienacki,
which still remain attractive to young contemporary readers. The article will present an analysis of contemporary trends in Polish detective novels for young people and an attempt to indicate areas in the novel writing of the author of Uroczysko, which should be of interest to teenagers and so-called ‘young adults’.

Mizoginia postępowa. Pan Samochodzik poucza dziewczęta

Magdalena Piekara — Sat, 05 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Childhood books are considered one of the most important in life. They shape the still immature personality of a child and build a clear picture of the world and its rules. The article concerns the misogynistic view of girls in the series of adventure novels for young people about Mr. Automobil
by Zbigniew Nienacki.

"...ładnej dziewczynie łatwo się wybacza brak rozsądku" – postaci kobiece w serii o Panu Samochodziku

Krystyna Zabawa — Sat, 05 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The aim of the article is an analysis of female characters who appear in the series of novels about Pan Samochodzik (Mr. Automobile) by Zbigniew Nienacki as well as the interpretation of the narrator’s perception of women in the context of fashion and social trends in the 1960s and
1970s in Poland. The author pays attention to gender roles that are attributed to both sexes, but especially to female roles. The analyses are focused, in turn, on the perception of a woman through senses (the descriptions of a body, clothes, hairstyles), the special role of girls, the “female” space, and, finally, the issue of gender equality.