The Language of Polish Modernism (Literary and Cultural Theory)

Description

This book debunks the myth of Polish Modernist literature as rooted in rash, immediate expression. The author compares programmatic statements on language by turn-of-the-century writers such as Wacław Berent, Bolesław Leśmian, Stanisław Brzozowski or Karol Irzykowski with notions deduced from their literary works. He demonstrates that these writers’ linguistic self-consciousness informs their implicitly self-reflexive texts and sheds light on their values and characteristic qualities. The author treats Modernist literature itself as a sort of «language» – a distinct entity that emerged through systematic differentiation within the general literary discourse. The book enhances the understanding of the transformations behind this important philosophical and artistic movement. Cover Table of Contents Foreword Chapter 1: A Few Remarks on the Literary Modernist Formation Introductory note Antoni Potocki’s genealogy of the Modernist formation Points of departure: resolving contradictions, searching for distinctness Points of arrival: Modernism as an integral part (or inkluz) of Postmodernism Chapter 2: The Language of Modernism: Experiencing Alienation and Its Effects The Myth of ‘Young Poland Lingo’ The discovery of language Circles of alienation Consequences: Modernist ideas of artistic disalienation Conclusions Chapter 3: Tropes of the ‘I’: Concepts of Subjectivity in Twentieth-Century Polish Literature Introduction Symbol Allegory Irony Syllepsis Recapitulation Chapter 4: Creating (In)tangible Worlds: Stanisław Brzozowski on the Tasks of Criticism and Art Stanisław Brzozowski on ‘fundamental seeing’ The rhetoric and poietic of culture Creating the real The essay, or philosophy as ‘a type of literary creativity’ Additional words: Criticism as ‘a form of life’ Chapter 5: Inventing the Order: Karol Irzykowski’s Concepts of Criticism and Literature The concept of literary criticism Two contexts: Wilde and Bergson The theory of unclearomania, or: Irzykowski versus Shklovsky The theory of comprehensibility, or: literature’s communicative destiny Conclusion: ‘I am a prewar person’ Chapter 6: Literaturology: Looking Back at the History of Modern Literary Theory in Poland A note on methodology The origins, development and twilight of modern literary theory in Poland The tradition as it is today The directions and tendencies of literary theoretical research today Episodic theories Selected Bibliography Index of Names