Zabijanie klasyków. Studia i eseje

Abstract

In the introduction, the author interprets a fragment of a statement made by Kraszewski, who comments on the expansion of literature accompanied with the evident decrease in its quality as writing became property of the masses and the issue of pop cultural fashion. On the other hand, what we encounter here is the attempt at the author's justification - writing has the power of levelling the lapse of time and constitutes a kind of therapy, protecting the writer's sensitivity. In literature, what is being sought is primarily human and the track of his existence. Introductory part - Tradycja literacka - komu to jeszcze potrzebne (Literary tradition - is it needed anymore?) In this article, the author cogitates about the need for the existence of literary tradition, especially the canon, encountered by a typical man at school. She discusses the variability in its choice, the change of taste and the transformation of what is considered as traditional and as avant-garde. She gives the examples of modernizing the canon in textbooks, attempts at updating the traditional threads in modern literature and the influence of common cultural ground on entire generations. There is no doubt that the existence of literary tradition and its particular form expressed by canon is needed primarily by all humanists who belong to Secret Brotherhood of Book People, a kind of order (a motif from The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco) which engaged in rewriting beloved books during their whole life. The need for the existence of canon (and literary tradition) is the need for the collectivity of values and the surface where human imagination - social, national and supranational - takes its roots. The first part of the book, titled Tylko Klasycy (Only Classics) contains 11 studies concerning Polish literature and culture in the second half of 19ᵗʰ century. Reading Smiles is a story about one of the most important readings of Polish positivists generation. Published by "Przegląd Tygodniowy" Self-Help (1867) quickly became a popular textbook of liberalism and the school of modern thinking in the categories of practicism, constituting at the same time counterbalance for alternative, romantic, Sienkiewicz-like patterns. The author shows the influence of Smiles' personal standards, its literary aftermath, and reception - from approval to criticism from the side of socialists. Patterns contained in Smiles lived for a long time though - they were kept in the idea of scouting by Robert Powell. Next, we have 3 texts concerning works by Bolesław Prus which show the maturation of his talent and increasing tendency towards metaphysics. Między Empirią metafizyką (Between Empiricism and Metaphysics) tells the story of how in 1887 Bolesław Prus, a popular journalist and "Kurier Codzienny" reporter travelled to Mława to experience a solar eclipse. He went there as a declared positivist with the aim of writing a report. In the text, he described a metaphysical experience of the world's disintegration which considerably exceeded this scientistic intention and resulted in numerous references in his later works (e.g. in a novel Faraon (Pharaoh)). In the text Forma i metafizyka (Form and Metaphysics) the author discusses Opowiadania wieczorne (Evening Stories) collection by Prus (1985) in which one can see the increasing interest in the existential problems and seeking the departure beyond the rigid canon of realism to show the gaps of being. The third text - Narracje Dziecięce (Children's Narration) is a study which shows the importance of stories with a child character in the works of Prus. Similarly to Henry James, he is a revelator of children's psyche, owing to which he broadens the formula of 19ᵗʰ century realism and the way of understanding humanity. In the article Kraszewski i pamiętniki (Kraszewski and Memoirs), the author shows 19ᵗʰ century as the time of the edition of memoirs and various historical testimonies (17-19ᵗʰ century) as well as historical novel genre. Kraszewski is one of the most active in this area, both as an editor and a novelist. Very critical towards 19ᵗʰ century obsession with diaries, which was in his view the manifestation of egotism, he left only shreds of memoirs. Sienkiewiczowska ars scribendi (Sienkiewicz-like Ars Scribendi) is a text about the most important characteristics of his writing, from poetics to aesthetics and the manifested strategy of speaking to the public. The author tries to define the writing of Sienkiewicz as the art of great synthesis in which traditional and exploited threads are united with the modern ones and where the ability to join different traditions, high and low, ensures broad popularity and the reconciliation of different likings. Czytanie Biblii albo o funkcjach literatury (Reading the Bible or about the Functions of Literature) deals with the dual aim as it analyses the motif of reading the BibIe as the most important book of life in the writing of Henryk Sienkiewicz and also cogitates about the literature and its influence in the specific condition of non-existence of the Polish state. In Murdering the Classics. Case: Sienkiewicz, based on the 20ᵗʰ century reception of Henryk Sienkiewicz, the author describes the process of depreciation of the national canon as well the procedure symbolically named "murdering the classics", undergoing mostly in the popular culture. Sienkiewicz, one of the most renown classics of Polish literature, Nobel Prize Winner of 1905, well known abroad, became the object of manifold manipulation by the media, referring to the stereotypes and associations enrooted in the mentality of Poles, evoking the works, characters, novel situations and quotations from Sienkiewicz, but also referencing the writer's legend, which has for 200 years been the source of both speculations and scientific research. Two texts devoted to Maria Konopnicka. The first (Sienkiewiczowski konterfekt w "Trzech studiach" Marii Konopnickiej) depicts her as a literary critic and the representative of so-called author's critique while the second - Pejzaże tęsknoty (Landscapes of Longing) - tries to shed some light on the period in her writing (after 1890) when, after breaking off with the country and family, she creates the original "culture" poetry. The first part of the book ends with the article Szekspir i krytycy (Shakespeare and Critics) which discusses reading styles of Shakespeare in Poland in the second half of 19ᵗʰ century, basing on chosen examples. The second part, titled Portrety (Portraits) contains 6 extensive studies concerning 19th and 20ᵗʰ century authors. It begins wich the portrait of Henryk Struve, the forgotten philosopher of the second half of 19th cemury, a prominem aesthete, remembered mainly as an opponent of Witkiewicz in the famous dispute abour the modern art. The second text is the portrait of Władysław Matlakowski, a doctor and a humanist, the translator of Shakespeare and co-creator of Zakopane style, the author of fascinating memoirs. The third text is devoted to Irène Némirovsky - the author of unmatched Suite française. It is also the story about a literary scandal caused by discovering this novel and the ruthless exploitation by the modern criticism the fact of her death in Auschwitz along with her anti-Semitism. The fourth text concerns the writing of Tadeusz Konwicki, a writer native of multiethnic Vilnius, immersed in Polishness and at the same time constantly ironizing on that issue, one of the most perspicacious political writers of 20ᵗʰ century. The fifth article depicts the profile of Wiesław Kazanecki, one of the most famous poets from Białystok, born in Opole Silesia region. The author is interested in the attitude of the artist - his criticism towards modernity and moral degradation. The sixth text discusses the phenomenon of Sokrat Janowicz, an author from Białystok area, a Belarussian and a man passionate about restoring his compatriots and tribesmen the memory about their own past. The book ends with an extensive text called Karły i olbrzymy. Kilka refleksji o potrzebie wielkości w humanistyce (Dwarves and Giants. Some reflections on the need of greatness in humanities), the author wonders about the state of our memory about the past and the responsibility concerning the state of this memory towards future generations. She points at the moments in the modern history of Poland where the literature aptly commented on the reality and the cultural change caused on one hand by the fact of regaining independence (1989) and on the other - by popularizing mass media. Frightening degradation of humanities, noticed by the author i n the modern public discourse, the ghastly mechanism of a supermarket which increasingly takes over the culture along with its more and more inert and entertainment-oriented recipients, should in her opinion make people think. Leastwise, it does not relieve from the responsibility towards passing values, which was - and is - the duty of humanities. [Translated by Sylwia Pietraszewska]