Poznańskie Studia Polonistyczne. Seria Literacka, 2013, nr 21 (41)
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Item Glosa o narcyzmie na marginesie "Lodowych pól" Zofii Nałkowskiej(2013) Zawiszewska, AgataThe article suggests a reading of Nałkowska’s first work, treated as a literary study of narcissism. In "Lodowe pola" Nałkowska made an unsuccessful attempt to express the work through an inner narcissistic conflict, giving the protagonist, Janka Dernowiczówna, the qualities of narcissistic personality, such as individualism, dandyism, estheticism, Nietzsche-ism, atrophy of instinct, need for self-control, stage directing of life, and never-satisfied self love. The author also transferred her own feeling of emotional neglect by her mother in infancy onto the feeling of rejection of Janka’s proposal by Rosławski. The image and experience of “ice fields” as the emptiness of life, chaos, and powerlessness, becomes a metaphor of narcissistic “abandonment depression”, which became, in Nałkowska’s later work, a constantly present emotional mood and a source of artistic “tanatic imagination”.Item Między codziennością a „państwem Platona”. Racjonalistyczne aspekty twórczości Łukasza Opalińskiego(2013) Raubo, GrzegorzThe article specifies the role of rationalism in the work of a distinguished Baroque author, Łukasz Opaliński. The source material for the study consists of: "Rozmowa Plebana z Ziemianinem" (1641), "Polonia defensa contra Ioan[nem] Barclaium" (1648), "Coś nowego" (1652), "Pauli Naeoceli de officiis libri tres" (1659), "Poeta nowy" (1661–1662). Łukasz Opaliński stated that reason is the most important cognitive faculty of the human being. Reason makes it possible to understand the rules of natural law, which is the source of ethical action among humans, and brings on understanding of the eschatological aim of human life, that is salvation. The possibilities of rational explanation do not, however, encompass the mysteries of religious faith or the basic concepts of natural philosophy, such as the elements, which are the principal components of matter. Rationalism belongs to the principal ideas of Opaliński’s political philosophy. He opted for a rational organization of the state and for rational ways of solving social problems (he underscored the role of common sense, rational dialogue of citizens and rational responsibility for the common good). The political formation that is best suited for rationalization of social life is monarchy. Seeing it as a model government, the author realised that it could not be introduced in the Poland of the 17th century, and consequently, apart from the eulogy of the monarchy, he proposed improvements in gentry democracy, especially in limiting of the “golden freedom”. An important sphere of externalization of Opaliński’s rationalist ideals was his theoretical thought on literature. He critically evaluated some examples of Baroque art of conceit. He underscored the role of rational sources of creativity and rational discipline in structuring a literary work, and his postulates in this field were close to the concepts of classicist criticism.Item Nałkowska i Komornicka, czyli kto zawinił(2013) Helbig-Mischewski, BrygidaThe author analyses the love-hate relationship between Zofia Nałkowska and her seven years’ senior, the legendary painter Maria Komornicka, who was for a time romantically ivolved with Zofia’s father — Wacław Nałkowski — and her friend — Cezary Jellenta. The relationship between the two writers has excited emotional reponses from researchers for many years. Two critics specializing in Komornicka have shown their interest most explicitly: Izabela Filipiak and Edward Boniecki. They accuse Nałkowska of not maginalizing Komornicka’s role in women’s literature of early 20th century, of unfeeling attitude for Komornicka’s tragic fate, even though Nałkowska was inspired by her in the early age, and of the failure to help Komornicka, when she was declared insane and disempowered after her symbolic transformation into a man. Researchers have so far seen Komornicka as a lost and harmed person, whereas Nałkowska was perceived as the morally questionable winner. However, Hanna Kirchner, who specializes in Nałkowska, has recently shown interesting sources of Nałkowska’s dislike for Komornicka, pointing out to a forgotten juvenile poem called "Historia „Forpoczt”". The author of the article, who also wrote a monograph about Maria Komornicka, analyses the arguments presented by critics of both writers, observing the relation between Nałkowska and Komornicka from a neutral ground, without sharing the dynamic of hasty accusations.Item Nieznany list Marii Komornickiej(2013) Bourkane, MateuszThe study presents an unpublished letter by Maria Komornicka, which the poet sent in July 1899 to her aunt, Aleksandra Oszacka. The epistolary communication, which contains several pieces of information about the life and activities of the poet living in Warsaw, can be a valuable material for researchers interested in her biography.Item Piękna sztuka przegrywania. Teorie odmieńcze i niepowodzenie(2013) Dąbrowski, BartoszThe author presents a survey of the mode of functioning of the category of failure in the context of phenomena describes as the anti-social turn in queer theory. In the focus of analysis there are, among others, works by Leo Bersani, Lee Edelman, José Esteban Muňoz. The article is mainly devoted to the ideas presented in Judith Halberstam’s "The Queer Art of Failure" (2011), a study that critically revises the relation connecting queerness with the concepts of negativity, shadow feminism, and designs a new perspective for queer research in popular culture, referring to Stuart Hall’s concept of low theory, and to Antonio Gramsci’s culture analysis.Item Podręczny słownik przezroczystości(2013) Misun, JakubThe article discusses an essay collection by Marek Bieńczyk, "Przeźroczystość"[Transparency]. The concept, placed in various context, shows various aspects and is seen in various shades. The author does not put forward a statement, but rather proposes a work to be done: to determine the modality of transparency. The concept initially seems to be mainly epistemological: the cognizant subject would like to make the world transparent, to discover all possible mysteries. Before that, however, the subject must know itself, and here the dream of transparency also plays the key role. Lack of epistemological transparency is the main cause of melancholy and its reverse — hysteria. The concept turns out to be important in the domain of love — the loer thinks that (s)he knows the desired person more better anybody else, that (s)he has entirely penetrated the subjectivity of the Other. Ultimately, however, the dream of transparency goes down to a slow demise of the subject: as self-discovery progresses, there is less and less of the discoverer. In conclusion of this work, the border of modality of the concept turns out to be horrifyingly obvious. The desire for transparency consequently searches not for knowledge, but for an escape whose name is death.Item Próby ocalenia tragedii w wieku XIX(2013) Przybyszewska, AlicjaThe article outlines the issue of genre-transformation of tragedy in 19th-century Polish drama. The fundamental question is tragedy’s potential after liberation from the most important structural categories of the genre: the three unities, catharsis and anagnorisis. The discussion on the 19th-century patterns of tragedy, derived from contemporary theory, criticism, and theatrical production, are based on research by Marek Dybizbański, who presented an interesting analysis of the problem, which was an important indicator of contemporary literary thought, in his study called "Tragedia polska drugiej połowy XIX wieku — wzorce i odstępstwa" [The Polish Tragic Drama in Late 19th Century — Patterns and Divergence]. The issues discussed were: disproportion between expectations and effects, indicated by repertoires and contemporary debate on drama, lack of standard productions of tragedy, matched by great surplus of texts that tried to set the standard, and by programmatic declarations on how to do it. The author, following Dybizbański’s discussion, focuses on the question why the 19th century in Poland was, for tragedy, a lost time.Item Przyjaźń u Nałkowskiej (na przykładzie powieści "Narcyza", "Hrabia Emil", "Niedobra miłość")(2013) Gajewska, AgnieszkaThe article, while discussing the concept of friendship, presents social and personal relations between the protagonists of Zofia Nałkowska’s fiction. Against the background of tragic social conflicts, numerous shows of disloyalty, trade in women, low motives, and thoughtlessness, the writer points out to friendship as the only worthwhile relationship, even if it brings many disappointments. Apart from her enormous sensitivity to women’s plight, and focus on their mutual solidarity, Nałkowska often focused on friendship between men, representing their emotional engagement and delight of one man in another. In Nałkowska’s fiction, friendship is linked to risk, opening up to otherness, and internalization of the gaze of another human being. Friendly relationships, although they are fleeting and full of ethical tensions, help people to free themselves from their mould, change their character, and escape from dependencies that discipline their desires. Thus, friendship means a personality crisis, weakening of character, and temporary transgression. The passage, a temporary escape from entrenched ways of living, is possible in Nałkowska’s fiction only at the cost of a friendly bond.Item Sama wśród mężczyzn. Zofia Nałkowska jako instytucja życia literackiego w międzywojennej Polsce(2013) Kraskowska, EwaThe article presents the role of Zofia Nałkowska in inter-war Polish literary culture. Her activity in the structures of literary life was combined with personal commitment to promotion of young talented authors. While she maintained close bonds with the political elites of the Polish Republic, she also functioned above the ideological divisions, actively supporting authors who were opposed the state. As the only woman she was member of the Polish Academy of Literature. Her participation in the official forms of public life forced her to spend time mostly in male company. At the same time, Nałkowska’s most important relationships, both with women and men, developed in private space.Item Śmierć króla i chustka Teodory(2013) Galant, ArletaThe author interprets two novels by Zofia Nałkowska — "Węzły życia" [The Bonds of Life] and "Niecierpliwi" [The Impatient]. In a hermeneutic-feminist analysis of selected figures and motifs, the article presents new meanings of concepts that are crucial for the understanding of anthropology of corporeality in Nałkowska’s writing project. Among the focal points of the discussion there are the dignity of “lay bodies,” as well as “male” and “female” fantasies of violence.Item Spotkanie w pół drogi. O Marii Konopnickiej i Zofii Nałkowskiej (z Katherine Mansfield w tle)(2013) Magnone, LenaThe author discusses the relationships between Maria Konopnicka’s and Zofia Nałkowska’s works, the two writers who are usually contrasted. The main body of the article is a comparison between Konopnicka’s prison reports, written for the press in the 1880s, and the 1931 short-story collection by Nałkowska, "Ściany świata" [The Walls of the World]. For Nałkowska, the author of "Za kratą" [Behind the Bars], the documentary form of a press report was an opening point, and her experiments with prose were crowned twenty years later with the intimate, modernist short-story collection called "Na normandzkim brzegu" [On the Shores of Normandy]. Nałkowska goes in the opposite direction: she gradually turns away not only the from the egocentrism of her modernist novels, but also from the over-structured language and style of her Young Poland phase. She was going in the direction of the pure, precise narrative of "Medaliony" [The Medallions], for which "Ściany świata" are a kind of prefiguration. The author of the article proposes to conclude that both writers met halfway. The convergences between short-story writing by Konopnicka and some works by Nałkowska ("Charaktery", "Dom nad łąkami") have been underscored by the comparison with Katherine Mansfield, a comparison which seems obvious for both Polish writers. Both Konopnicka and Nałkowska could be described as “the Polish Katherine Mansfield”, and the similarity is the best indication of the relationship between the two writers.Item Stać się sobą. O "Narcyzie"(2013) Graczyk, EwaThe author analyzes and interprets the style, structure, and narration in the novel that marked the transition in Nałkowska’s fiction from the Young Poland phase to the inter-war phase. The author shows the place of the novel in Nałkowska’s work, presenting the links with the work of other women writers of the 19th century, especially Orzeszkowa and Zapolska. The author attempts to demonstrate that "Narcyza"’s features elements of novelistic, feminine polyphony and irony (thanks to the use of the work of literary mothers); such elements were rare in the novelists earlier texts. The second part of the article is devoted to the analysis of the main heroine; the author demonstrates that Nałkowska wants to make the character a problematic and ideological heroine in the Bakhtinian sense. The author analyses the novelist’s techniques of “advancing” Narcyza, and the attempts to extricate the heroine, who is a marriageable maid, from the romance-like situation and to turn her into a serious character in the sense that used to be exclusively possible for male characters.Item Susan Sontag — zapomniana matka?(2013) Ziewiec, KlaudiaThe article discusses new and republished translations of Susan Sontag’s work, recently launched by the Karakter publishing house: "Regarding the Pan of Others", "On Photography", and "Against Interpretation and Other Essays". The article focuses on the elements of Sontag’s thought that make her a forgotten mother of feminist and gender theoreticians, as well as such influential critics as Michel Foucault and Roland Barthes. The article points out to continuations of Sontag’s thought in contemporary theoretical and social projects, and to the pertinence of her critical observations on theories based on metaphysics of presence: psychoanalysis, Marxism, or hermeneutics. The article also touches upon history of war photography and related war journalism, and upon the ambivalent quality of imaging of the misery of war. It also present historical and cultural circumstances of the development of Sontag’s thought in the intellectual milieu of New York in the 1960s. The discussion recapitulates the main statements of Sontag’s essays, relating them to a wider theoretical context, which is aimed at a reappraisal of the forgotten intelectual in the history of literature.Item Świat metafor owadzich w "Dziennikach czasu wojny" Zofii Nałkowskiej(2013) Krupiński, PiotrThe main aim of the article is an analysis of entomological motifs in the Nałkowska’s wartime diary. The surprising frequency of these motifs gives an opportunity for a more general discussion: the key context for an explanation of insect metaphors seems to be the tendency, common for modernist authors, to place the concept of humanity in a widely understood philosophy of nature. The rule would also apply for the war, or more generally, for mechanisms of human violence, which Nałkowska subjects in her diary to a peculiar darwinistic representation. Understanding the war as a “naturalistic fact” (Hanna Kirchner’s description) results in a gradual blurring of the differences between the violence of nature and the violence of history. The author of the article has identified a similar procedure in Czesław Miłosz’s work, which constitutes a specific counterpoint for Nałkowska’s wartime diary.