W splątanej tkaninie stuleci... : o literaturze polskiej kulturowego przełomu

Abstract

In its thematic preoccupations, the present study follows in the footsteps and continues my previous book dedicated to literature of—broadly understood—modernism (Between Initiation and Nothingness. Studies in Modern ist Literature, 2013). I reconstruct and reconsider something that to a certain degree has already been examined critically, namely the status of the Young Poland Movement literature in the dynamic structure of modernism (Part I). I also reflect upon the characteristic features of modernism—its need to pose questions of paramount importance, which bring along with them spiritual anxiety rather than unequivocal answers. It is against this background that I examine certain tendencies observable within the genre of modern “Catholic novel,” which offers mainly consolation for the readers but at the same time iso lates them from the significance of twentieth century “accursed problems” (Part VII). Stefan Grabiński’s works, which fuse modern thinking with the daemonic and the esoteric, are situated on the other end of the above sketched spectrum. The “conflicted” encounter of the two discourses is examined in Part VI. Important emendations to the contemporary picture of the religious awareness in the examined epoch, the issue which I subjected to some preliminary critical refection in From the Emptiness of Heaven to the Religion of Life: Christian Elements in the Literature of Young Poland Movement (2001), are introduced in Part III. The most extreme examples of the contention be-tween modernist artists and the canonical reception of Christianity can be observed in catastrophic and extremely pessimistic revaluations proposed by Kornel Makuszyński’s poetry, in the figure of Salome from Kasprowicz’s Hymns, in the gnostic character of Żeromski’s prose, or in the provocative “Christology” of Stanisław Brzozowski. The unchanging contemporary interest in the works of Tadeusz Miciński and the still growing number of monograph studies and academic articles dedicated to his writings are invitations to a much more synthetic reflection (see two texts in Part IV), but they also demonstrate that a new critical perspective on the author of Nietota is not only possible but required (see the text about Miciński’s feminocentrism). My present study, to a greater degree than it was in my previous books, gives prominence to the groundbreaking and transitional character of modernism. It is discussed in detail in Parts II and V. The studies included in Part II give prominence to the most essential issue, i.e., to epistemological potential—particularly in the context of philosophical dilemmas—of the modernist imagination and its poetic discourses. I argue that the contemporary discussion on this issue is far too “intricate.” Without attempting to outline this discussion or providing my own definite, conclusive remarks, I concentrate on two aspects of the problem at hand: I interpret various poetic approximations of the “infinity” and look into different variations of “apophatic” and “negative” discourse. The part dedicated to vitalism in Polish modern literature (more specifically: to the absence of it) is, in my intention, polemical towards the most prevalent, contemporary views. It also offers a preliminary characteristic of what I refer to as Polish “mortalism” (or “cryptomortalism”). The material included in Part V can be viewed in an analogical manner, i.e. as a preliminary sketch to a possible, separate monograph study. These days the literary cycle as a genre is subject to a thorough critical examination. The literature of the Young Poland Movement gives an abundance of diverse material for such an examination. Arguably, its poetry, especially if we com pare it with the poetry of the interwar period, is notable for its outstandingly sophisticated organization of literary cycles. Some of the texts included in the present study were first published in volumes of post-conference proceedings. In the present edition, the bibliography has been updated and adjusted to the same editorial format. None of the articles that I offer to the reader has been included in my own previous publications.