Piętno rodzimego krajobrazu w twórczości malarskiej Józefa Szermentowskiego

The article centres on the analysis of Józef Szermentowski’s works with special attention to how his output was influenced by the native landscape. The author explores the concept of the stigma as an inalienable mark (on the body, in memory, in the artwork) and essential in discussions of the artwork concepts of aura and regionalism. The author brings to light the most important aspects of Szermentowski’s biography and uses them to analyse selected paintings in light of the issues signalled earlier. Praca jest analizą biografii oraz twórczości Józefa Szermentowskiego pod kątem piętna, jakie odcisnął na nich krajobraz kielecki. Autorka zastanawia się nad samym pojęciem piętna jako niezbywalnego śladu (na ciele, w pamięci, w twórczości artystycznej) oraz nad istotnymi w kontekście omawianej twórczości pojęciami aury i regionalizmu. W tekście przybliżone zostają najważniejsze z perspektywy badaczki aspekty biografii artysty i na ich podstawie przeprowadzona zostaje analiza wybranych, reprezentatywnych dla badanego problemu prac malarskich

Potęga świętości: Święta Małgorzata Arpadówna OP (1242-1270)

St. Margaret of the Arpad Dynasty, when she was three and a half, the royal couple sent her to Veszprem, to the Dominican nunnery, where she stayed, learnt and grew up to sacredness until the age of 10. Later she was moved to a new cloister built by her father, King Béla IV, on an Island on the Danube near Buda. There, at the age of 12 she made religious vows and lived for 16 years as a nun. She led a very intense life of prayer: she enjoyed the gift of contemplation and mystical states. As a nun she cared for the sick in the cloister infirmary and ministered in the infirmary. Although she permanently remained in an enclosed order, she was interested in state affairs and politics. Everything she did in her life may be considered a step towards becoming a saint. Her sanctity was quickly recognized, which enabled her to freely fulfil her vocation with all the power of her extraordinary personality and strong character. Saint Margaret of Hungary remains an example of a strong position for a woman in a medieval society.Św. Małgorzata z dynastii Arpadów, mając 3,5 lat, została przez parę królewską przekazana do Veszprém, do tamtejszego klasztoru mniszek dominikańskich, gdzie przebywała do 10 roku życia, pobierając naukę, wychowując się i wzrastając do świętości. Następnie znalazła się w wybudowanym przez jej ojca, króla Bélę IV klasztorze na Wyspie na Dunaju koło Budy. Tam mając 12 lat, złożyła śluby zakonne i jako mniszka przeżyłajeszcze 16 lat. Prowadziła niezwykle intensywne życie modlitewne: mając dar kontemplacji, dostępowała stanów mistycznych. Jako zakonnica zajmowała się chorymi w klasztornej infirmerii oraz posługiwała w infirmerii. Choć stale przebywała w ścisłej klasztornej klauzurze, interesowała się sprawami państwowymi i angażowała się w politykę. Wszystko, co w swym życiu uczyniła, można uznać za krok do uzyskania świętości. Szybko też powszechnie uznano jej świętość i dzięki temu mogła swobodnie realizować swe życiowe powołanie z całą mocą jej niezwykłej osobowości i silnego charakteru. Małgorzata pozostaje przykładem silnej pozycji kobiety w społeczeństwie średniowiecznym

Muzyka w "Dziennikach" Eugène’a Delacroix

Eugéne Delacroix (1798-1863), painter, leading representative of French Romanticism. Since 1822 he noted the major events which occurred in his life, which occurred in Paris of that time. His Journals consist of two volumes: volume 1 encompasses the years 1822-1853, and volume 2 encompasses the years 1854-1863 so till the last years of the artist’s life. The author of the article is focusing mainly on his music interests. Delacroix registered his impressions after the opera events, symphonic concerts in Paris Music Society and also after the cameral concerts which took place in the saloons of Paris Aristocracy including the princess Marcelina Czartoryska. Delacroix is dedicating a lot of attention to Fryderyk Chopin to whom he was attached as a true friend and he painted one of the best pictures of Polish musician. The Journals are providing us a lot of information about the writers and composers working at that time.At that time in Paris the following artists were living and creating: A. Dumas, V. Hugo, A. de Musset or G. Sand, A.Adam, H. Berlioz, J.F. Halévy, G.Meyerber, G. Rossini. The Polish edition of the Journals was published thanks to translating them into Polish by Joanna Guze and Julia Hartwig

Neo-noir : ciemne zwierciadło czasów kryzysu

Neo-noir. The Dark Reflection of the Times of Crisis is a book devoted to problems of new film noir genre. In the opening part, the author recapitulates previous definitions of this phenomenon, simultaneously proposing her own understanding of neo-noir as an aesthetics developing dynamically especially in the times of the broadly understood crises. The following chapters are of interpretative character. The author illustrates how neo-noir diagnoses crises present in the contemporary culture: identity, gender and epistemological crises, as well as these connected with doubt about humankind. The new cinema noir seems to be a reaction to all the questions regarding the status of film as a medium, and to crises affecting genres and conceptions of film authorship. The last chapter is devoted to “neo- -noir touches” – the author follows the traces of elements of this aesthetics, among others, in the works of Atom Egoyan, in the Polish cinema and the contemporary film pop-culture, including the one which may be defined as design cinema. Although the author grounds her analysis mainly in the film examples, she also refers to selected comic books (Joker by Brian Azzarello and Lee Bermejo), video games (L.A. Noire), music videos (Who Is It? by Michael Jackson), and even advertisements (BMW series: The Hire). The book not only contains studies and interpretations of works defined as retro-noir (such as The Postman Always Rings Twice by Bob Rafelson or The Black Dahlia by Brian De Palma), whose authors pay tribute to the classical black cinema, but also of numerous science fiction movies, (Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner, Terminator and Matrix cycles, and Battlestar Galactica series), thrillers (Basic Instinct by Paul Verhoeven or Jagged Edge by Richard Marquand), and comic book adaptations (Christopher Nolan’s cycle about Batman and Robert Rodriguez’s Sin City). Simultaneously, the author refers to both Western and Asian cinematography (i.e. Hong Kong, Korean, Japanese and Indian)

Formuły duchowości w kinie najnowszym

The formats of spirituality in the latest movie can be inscribed into the trend of reinterpretations of the main categories of the modern culture dealt with nowadays. Referring to the observations made by philosophers, theoreticians of culture and specialists in religious studies, the author of the book outlines a map of interdependences between modern and most characteristic attitudes towards the issues of a widely-understood spirituality and certain tendencies present in the latest movie (until 2010). On the Polish publishing ground, it is one of the fewest propositions dealing with such topics, and certainly the only one covering such a broad spectrum of issues. Relating to such phenomena as gnosis, New Age, individual epiphanies or the ethics of authenticity, the author discusses both the status of a modern religious movie (including the phenomena such as The Passion by Mel Gibson), and the realizations of various formats of spirituality in a postmodernist movie (from Matrix trilogy to Tim Burton’s works). The examples in question concern an artistic movie (among others The Religion Hour, Agora, Hadewijch, Lourdes, Silent Light) and a popular one (The End of the Affair, Forrest Gump, The Nativity Story). The author’s interest reaches both the movie of the West, as well as Far-and Middle- East (among others works by Kim Ki-duk, and Apichatpong Weerasethakul), paying attention to not only renowned movie authors (Jim Jarmusch, Wim Wenders, Darren Aronofsky, Andriej Zwiagincew), but also experimentators (Ron Fricke) and works considered as being controversial (Fanatic)

Blaski i cienie życia – Perspektywa psychologiczna

Z wprowadzenia: "Książka zatytułowana Blaski i cienie życia – perspektywa psychologiczna wpisuje się w badania dotyczące uwarunkowań zachowania człowieka w wymiarze biologicznym, psychicznym i społecznym. Poszczególne rozdziały tej publikacji powiązane są z różnorodną problematyką, ale mają pewną wspólną właściwość – wszystkie dotyczą psychologicznych problemów życia współczesnego człowieka, jakże złożonych i interesujących z perspektywy badań i praktyki zawodowej."(...

Witold Gombrowicz, pisarz argentyński. Antologia

Niniejsza antologia jest zbiorem tekstów napisanych o Witoldzie Gombrowiczu w Argentynie i ujmujących jego dzieło oraz legendę życia w kontekście tamtejszej tradycji literackiej. W Części krytyków odnajdziemy m.in. studia na temat Gombrowicza jako jednego z odwiedzających Amerykę Południową europejskich intelektualistów, analizę jego travel writings, omówienie relacji łączących go z argentyńskim światem literackim, w szczególności z Jorge Luisem Borgesem oraz Macedoniem Fernándezem, a także opracowanie na temat Gombrowiczowskiej narracji detektywistycznej. Część pisarzy obejmuje klasyczne już teksty najważniejszych współczesnych pisarzy argentyńskich: Ricarda Piglii i Juana José Saera, a także nowsze interpretacje, autorstwa Césara Airy i Carlosa Gamerro. „Antologia jest oryginalnym i istotnym wkładem w rodzimą wiedzę na temat związków Witolda Gombrowicza z Argentyną nie tyle na poziomie życiorysu, co zostało już zbadane przez Ritę Gombrowicz i Klementynę Suchanow, ile na poziomie myśli i tekstów literackich. Autorka antologii dobrała prace argentyńskich badaczy w sposób trafny i aktualny, zachowując jednocześnie pluralizm punktów widzenia i tez interpretacyjnych.” dr hab. Justyna Ziarkowska, prof. UWrPublikacja została sfinansowana ze środków Narodowego Centrum Nauki przyznanych na podstawie decyzji numer DEC-2013/09/D/HS2/0056

Sacrum i mythos w polskiej literaturze fantastycznej

The doctoral thesis titled Sacrum and Mythos in Polish Fantastic Literature has the purpose in demonstration, that scientific methods, reserved for theology and cultural anthropology until now, in combination with classical research workshop of literary, are unusually valuable in research in fantastic literature – fantasy, science fiction and horror. The thesis consists of two parts: chapters which are theoretical groundwork and chapters presenting interpretations of individual literary works. The theoretical part consists of three chapters and a chapter which ends the content of thesis, whereas practical part consists of seven chapters, every devoted to particular author, novel or short story. The variety of subjective material ruled out the application of a uniform research methodology, which may have been expected in a thesis devoted to specific author or specific literary work. Instead, every of presented interpretation consists of different seeing on sacrum and mythology. Particular chapters, being the pieces of analysis and intepretation of literary works, are devoted to polish texts without exception, although continuos appeals to english and american classics make the necessary background for presented issues and motives. The whole thesis is ended by a chapter titled Instead of the end, which presents an argument, being also a conclusion: polish fantastic literature has grown up from completely different background and tradition than her equivalent in England or America, and at the beginning of this dissimilarity there is our own experience of sacrum and the lack of fully codified and consciously experienced pre-christian tradition

Nagroda literacka Jasna Polana : ideologia, estetyka, poetyka

The present thesis aims to analyze one of the most prestigious Russian literary prizes – the Yasnaya Polyana Book Award. The author of the thesis is primarily interested in the ideological, aesthetical and poetical dimensions of the award. The first chapter provides a theoretical description of the Yasnaya Polyana Book Award, focusing on the role such distinction has in shaping the literary canon through acts of ‘consecration’ – defined as raising the status of a text of culture (in this case – a literary work) to that of a work of art. Moreover, literary prizes function as extremely important factors for establishing bonds within literary circles by creating associations between writers who share the same or similar views on literature. Another discussed issue concerns the role of literary awards in shaping the book market, i.e. the relationship between the field of literature and the broadly understood field of economics. The author of the dissertation claims that the act of ‘consecration’ of a work of art through the verdict of the jury (or in other words – through the mechanism of reference to authority) may raise the status of that work in the reader’s eyes, simultaneously encouraging them to buy the book. As the author claims, to a large extent the Yasnaya Polyana Book Award aims to become one of the most important factors shaping the field of Russian literature. Finally, a brief outline of the history of Russian literary awards, as well as their place in contemporary Russian culture, expands upon the considerations included within this chapter. Chapter two consititutes an attempt to recreate the ideological and aesthetic views of the jury members. Following Janusz Sławiński and Derek Attridge’s considerations about the inability to detach a critical act, such as the jury's verdict in the case of the literary award, the author argues that there exists a relatively compact system of views shared by the members of the Yasnaya Polyana committee. The research material used in this part of the analysis consists of journalistic speeches, essays and other texts written by the Yasnaya Polyana jurors. The analysis allows to identify, with relative precision, the ideological and aesthetic context of the the Yasnaya Polyana – pochvennichestvo and its artistic emanation, Village Prose. The main point of reference for the Village Prose ideology is nation-soil (почва), its spiritual condition and transformations within that group. Some of the more important aspects of the ideology of pochvennichestvo (and of Village Prose) relate to the themes of binary oppositions, such as: new-old, tradition-modernity, country-city, past-future, revolution-evolution. Chapter three is devoted to the role the Yasnaya Polyana Book Award has in the process of shaping the new Russian identity. It would involve extending the concept of the nation-soil to all the inhabitants of Russia, regardless of their ethnicity, nationality or religion. In his reflections, the author of this thesis focuses on the Russian national character, the substant features of the Russian nation, and the attitude towards ‘their own’ and ‘outsiders.’ Referencing the literature on the subject, the author denies the existence of the abovementioned factors and indicates that socio-cultural identity is a construct largely imposed on an individual by social institutions (family, school, culture, state). According to him, Yasnaya Polyana is an institution of cultural life and it constitutes a ‘channel of nationalization’ (as used by Mikhail Timofeev) of new meanings, aimed at creating a common Russian identity. The process of building a new identity is linked with the official policy of the Russian state. The author proposes to call the ideology represented by Jasna Polana ‘the new pochvennichestvo’ and uses the framework proposed by Mikhail Timofeev - time, space, language, system of values, ethnic, religious and cultural communities, and attitude towards other nations – as its core indicators. Consequently, the author performs an initial analysis of the works awarded by Yasnaya Polyana according to these categories, and as a result, he confirmes the assumption of the identity-consituting aspect of Yasnaya Polyana. Chapter four focuses on the poetics and aesthetics of the works associated with Yasnaya Polyana. The first part of the chapter explores similiarities in conventions and genres of the selected works, leading to the conclusion that the discussed texts share their most important characteristic: they all represent conscious realism, as defined by Damian Grant. The following part of the chapter is devoted to the analysis of said works through the lense of common themes of Village Prose, as listed by Katherine Parthé (including: rural enviornment, nature, home, ‘little homeland’, time, language). The detailed analysis shows that the prize-winning texts cannot, some exceptions aside, be treated as representative of Village Prose, due to major differences between the poetics of particular authors. In fact, the most important binding factor between the texts, according to the author of the dissertation, is that they show diversity of the nation-soil, both in diachronic and synchronic cross-section. The final part of the dissertation (Conclusions) contains a summary of all the abovementioned considerations, as presented in the corresponding parts of the thesis. The bibliography includes an alphabetical list of references, divided into primary, theoretical, and secondary sources