The canon : (im)movables

W artykule podjęto rozważania na temat pojęcia kanonu w praktyce krytycznoliterackiej ostatniego trzydziestolecia. Odwołując się do toczących się wówczas debat społecznych i kry-tycznych oraz do używanych w nich różnych definicji kanonu, autorka pokazuje konteksty i reperkusje jego poruszenia (demontażu, rekonstrukcji). Nie tracąc z oczu zasadniczego faktu, że rozumienie kanonu przekłada się na sposób myślenia o literaturze oraz roli/powinnościach/możliwościach krytyki literackiej, analizuje zarówno cele, jak i sposoby używania tego pojęcia. A także okoliczności, w których w dyskusjach i tekstach krytycznych, podejmujących problematykę wartościowania, literackich hierarchii czy zadań krytyki, miejsce kanonu jako punktu odniesienia przejął mainstream i inne kategorie, bardziej adekwatne do heteronomicznego charakteru pola literackiego.This article discusses the concept of the canon in Polish literary criticism in the 1990s, the 2000s, and the 2010s. The author discusses contemporary social and critical debates and dif-ferent definitions of the canon employed in them and shows the contexts and repercussions of redefending (disassembling, reconstructing) the literary canon. Bearing in mind the funda-mental fact that the understanding of the canon translates into the way of thinking about lit-erature and the role /obligations/possibilities of literary criticism, she analyzes both the goals and the ways in which the concept of the canon is used. She also analyzes the circumstances in which the canon, as a point of reference, was replaced in discussions and texts devoted to literary hierarchies and/or literary criticism by the mainstream and other categories which were better suited to describe the heteronomous nature of the literary field.canon

Krytyk w PRL-u

THE LITERARY CRITIC IN THE POLISH PEOPLE’S REPUBLICThe essay entitled The Literary Critic in the Polish People’s Republic constitutes an attempt to answer the fundamental question: how one is to present and describe today the Polish literary criticism in the second half of the twentieth century. The essay illustrates that it is worth going beyond the widely accepted view concerning the political and social enslavement of critics and to look at their writings as expressions functioning within an internal system of literary life, accompanied by internal confl icts, myths and hierarchies. For not all of these writings have their origin in the current political system (although they must always refer to the mandatory public discourse). One of the examples of a different than merely a political point of reference here is the moralistic, Catholic self-censorship; another example is the need to defi ne one’s attitude toward the critical-literary tradition, defined above all by such people as Brzozowski and Irzykowski.The acceptance of the inner perspective of a critical expression transfers the whole problem onto the plane of dual reference which is (at all times) a characteristic feature of literary criticism: namely the reference to literature and what is literary and towards “life”, i.e. the sphere of politics, moral choices etc., and to a lack of autonomy as the fundamental issue of the existence of literary criticism

Co to znaczy dzisiaj być polskim krytykiem?

What Does It Mean to Be a Polish Art Critic Today? The discussion on the topic of contemporary literary criticism has been contained within two symbolic poles: the article What does it mean today to be a Polish writer by Karol Maliszewski written in 1995 and What does it mean today to be a Polish authoress, written in 2008 by Igor Stokfiszewski. The former paper, which is characteristic of the critical-literary awareness of the 90s of the 20th century, promotes literature that is far from being involved and is based on an individual writer’s gesture; the latter, on the other hand, belongs to one of the better known critical projects of recent years and it promotes a political turnaround proclaiming literature that is engagé and one that is treated as an instrument of social critique. The project of literary criticism is at the same time an expressive and controversial proposition and its significance also consists in the fact that it became a strong impulse which mobilized literary criticism to define and defend other conceptions of literature and criticism and in this way contribute to a fundamental debate in the milieu of critics

Critical constellations

Celem artykułu jest wykorzystanie astronomicznej metafory konstelacji do badania krytyki literackiej. Wychodząc od kluczowych dla statusu pojęcia "konstelacji" ustaleń Waltera Benjamina, używającego tej metafory do refleksji o badaniu historii, poprzez Adorniańskie korekty sytuujące konstelację w polu badań estetycznych i proponowany przez Renée R. Trilling konstelacyjny model lektury, a także sposoby dotychczasowego wykorzystywania tej metafory w polskich badaniach nad krytyką, niniejszy szkic zmierza do ukazania konstelacji jako sposobu ujmowania krytyki literackiej bez totalizujących, ujednolicających klasyfikacji. Pokazuje, że "konstelacja krytyczna" pozwala na wydobycie jednostkowości dyskursów krytycznych, przy jednoczesnym odsłonięciu ich relacyjności i wielowymiarowego uwikłania w warunki pola literackiego (ze współczesnością ich badacza włącznie). Proponuje konstelacyjny model badania krytyki literackiej.This article’s objective is to apply the astronomical metaphor of the constellation to the study of literary critique. Departing from Walter Benjamin’s concepts that have been instrumental to the status of the "constellation" as a concept, and using this metaphor to reflect upon the study of history through Adorno’s revisions that usher the constellation into aesthetic studies, as well as the constellational model of reading proposed by Renée R. Trilling, and historical methods for applying this metaphor to Polish critical studies, this essay attempts to introduce the constellation as a means for grasping literary critique without deferring to totalizing and monolithic classification systems. The article demonstrates that the "critical constellation" allows us to yield a certain autonomy for critical discourses by simultaneously revealing their relativity and their multidimensional entanglements with the conditions of the literary field (including the present moment of the scholar). The article proposes the constellation model for studying literary critique

Stanislaw Brzozowski and the migration of ideas: transnational perspectives on the intellectual field in twentieth-century Poland and beyond

As a writer, critic, and philosopher, Stanislaw Brzozowski (1878-1911) left a lasting imprint on Polish culture. He absorbed virtually all topical intellectual trends of his time, adapting them for the needs of what he saw as his primary mission: the modernization of Polish culture. The essays of the volume reassess and contextualize Brzozowski's writings from a distinctly transnational vantage point. They shed light on often surprising and hitherto underrated affinities between Brzozowski and intellectual figures and movements in Eastern and Western Europe. Furthermore, they explore the presence of his ideas in twentieth-century century literary criticism and theory