"Why don’t you tell them…" : unheard voices in Claude Lanzmann’s Shoah

Claude Lanzmann’s nine-hour documentary Shoah (1985) is a rich source of knowledge on the Nazi extermination of Jews in Central Europe. Its main material consists of interviews with people who witnessed the Holocaust, conducted in the very locations of the wartime events. The present paper analyses an iconic scene from Chełmno on Ner, where between 1940-43 and later 1944-45 the first Nazi death camp was located. A group of locals - gathered in front of the parish church, around one of the survivors of the camp - recall the events, sometimes in stunning technical detail. Their Polish utterances are translated into French; English subtitles are based on the French of the interpreter. The Polish linguistic material is not neutral: it is marked with dialectal and sociolectal features; the speakers engage in conversation on the side, comment on the situation of the interview in various ways, verbal and non-verbal. In the translation, both into French and English, sentences are skipped, the plurality of voices is flattened, and differences in memory are smoothed out. The resulting text is rather a summary than a translation. The paper offers close-up analyses of chosen sequences from the interview to show the complexity of the communication situation and the extent of distortion caused by the way translation works in the film. It also offers an alternative translation, which aims at giving voice to the actual people of Chełmno and acknowledging as fully as possible the complication and difficulty of memory construction through language, especially in a highly traumatic area. It hopes to offer insights into the bystander position in Holocaust discourse

Somewhere between Providence and Arkham… Mythical Worlds of Howard Phillips Lovecraft

Niniejsza praca skupia się na fikcyjnych światach stworzonych przez Howarda Phillipsa Lovecrafta oraz ich związku z tradycją oraz krajobrazem Nowej Anglii. W pierwszym rozdziale pracy nakreślono związek pisarza z kulturą, religią oraz historią tej krainy. Kolejne rozdziały skupiają się na trzech okresach twórczości Lovecrafta, w których pisarz (a) podejmuje pierwsze próby odtworzenia ducha Nowej Anglii oraz wykorzystania opowieści mitycznych w celu stworzenia swych fikcyjnych światów; (b) wykorzystuje topografię historię, folklor oraz architekturę Nowej Anglii; a w końcu (c) tworzy swe fikcyjne mroczne przestrzenie. Badania wykazały, że groza w opowiadaniach Lovecrafta ma swe źródła nie tylko w surowej doktrynie purytańskiej, ale także w mitycznych nieznanych lądach (Atlantyda, Lemuria, terra incognita), które były opisywane przez klasyków.The aim of this thesis is to examine the mythical worlds created by Howard Phillips Lovecraft. Particular attention is devoted to the connection between the author’s works and New England traditions and landscapes. The first section offers insights into Lovecraft’s life and interests and is followed by the analysis of the mythical space and its relation to Lovecraft’s imaginary locations. The following chapters focus on three different periods of his literary work: (a) his first attempts to restore the atmosphere of New England and use mythical narrtions to create his fictional worlds; (b) the use of colonial topography, tradition, and history; and (c) his final works, which fully present Lovecraft’s dark, imaginary worlds. The results of the study reveal that the horror in Lovecraft’s works has its origins not only in Puritan beliefs but also in the unknown lands and their hidden secrets