Granice satyry

Abstract

The monograph explores the assumption that the satiric mode, so deeply ingrained in the works of many distinguished writers, is more than a mere response to reality. It has the power to create and extend the boundaries of literature. The book offers a theoretical enquiry into the multiple aspects of satire and its elusive generic class. Yet if satire is to be used effectively and increase our understanding of the refined highbrow literature, it requires a precise definition and adequate analytical tools. This task appears even more urgent since in Polish literary discourse the terms ‘satire’ and ‘satirist’ have gained a narrow value-oriented meaning, and tend to denote a literary practice which is highly specialized but, at the same time, artistically ‘inferior’. Its secondary status results from a narrow perspective on satire and the neglect of its historical transformations. It further seems to run counter to widely accepted literary facts: such prominent writers as Witold Gombrowicz, Sławomir Mrożek and Tadeusz Różewicz made satire central to various aspects of their writings. Some of their works have been selected for analytical and interpretative reading in this book. The author attributes this relative neglect of satire to its remarkable formal diversity as well as to the strong presence of grotesque in the Polish literature of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. By exploring the complex connections between satire, irony, parody, grotesque and autothematism, and using interpretative analysis, the author demonstrates the challenges involved in its description. Furthermore, as contemporary satirical texts differ considerably from classic satire both aesthetically and in the context of ideological pronouncements, satire retains its functionality. It affords opportunity for situating unconventional satirical texts in the literary tradition and, at the same time, permits its historical transformations. Additionally, the author disputes the conventional ‘moral’ perspective of satirical writing. This traditional pattern assumes that the satirist writes his critique according to some evident or clear-cut standards or boundaries. Meanwhile, a satirical text engages and challenges the reader; it calls for the kind of openness which allows identification with the satirical object and readiness to modify viewpoints. Finally, the author underscores the commonly ignored complexity of the satirist’s attitude. Its constitutive critical viewpoint does not exclude self-irony. Self-criticism may in fact result from a satirical attitude and it may initiate distance. And it is in this friction between identification and opposition towards the satirical object that the satirist’s ambivalence emerges. The broad satirical model advanced in this book aims to increase appreciation of this hitherto neglected category in Polish literary criticism. By accentuating the elusive character of satire, the underlying principle of hybridity and its intricate interconnections with other literary strategies, such as irony, humour and grotesque, we can acknowledge the ironic intention in the works of the most distinguished authors. The interpretations offered by the author may serve as a reference point for the reading of individual writers as well as for a more extensive study of satire.