Maciej Urbanowski

Bruno Schulz and politics

The article discusses Bruno Schulz’s attitude toward politics. It is well known that the author of The Cinnamon Shops was a nonpolitical man. This was the reason for some fi erce attacks against his prose conducted by politically engaged literary critics in the interwar Poland. The author mentions these attacks but he also analyzes Schulz’s less known essays about Piłsudski, Aragon and Brecht, and the way Schulz pictured politics in his prose. It seems that a political dictionary of the author of The Street of Crocodiles comprised terms from different political ideologies; he alluded to Marx, anarchism and Brzozowski. At the end of his article the author discusses the question whether Schulz’s nonpolitical attitude could be compared to the so called conservative revolution in Germany after World War I.

A GESTURE OF LAUGHTER IN THE LITERATURE OF THE SECOND POLISH REPUBLIC: RECONNAISSANCE
The article reconstructs „a gesture of laughter” in the literature of the Second Polish Republic. It reminds that in the beginning of 20’s in the 20th century laughter was considered by Polish writers (inspired by Stanisław Brzozowski and some other thinkers of Young Poland) as a gesture of cultural and antropological vitality and modernity. This is the reason why laughter was treated as a necessary element of Polish modern culture. A good example of such a thinking is not only the poetry of Kazimierz Wierzyński and of poets of Skamander group, but also a literature of Polish futurism, or short stories of Eugeniusz Małaczewski. But by the end of 20’s, laughter began to upset Polish writers. Aleksander Wat, Witold Gombrowicz, Bolesław Leśmian and Jerzy Stempowski showed ambivalent, destrucitive, inhuman or even nihilistic power of laughter. This ambivalent attitude of Polish writers to the gesture of laughter is typical by the end of 30’s but also in the afterwar Polish literature.

New biography of Brzozowski

The article is a review of Stanislaw Brzozowski biography written by Andrzej Mencwel. The reviewer emphasizes the connection with the author’s earlier works on Brzozowski, indicates the author’s increased interest in the work of the author of Legends of Young Poland. Essayistic and interdisciplinary character of Mencwell’s biography explains well the uniqueness of Brzozowski in the twentieth-century Polish and European culture.

 

Komentarze do Rozmowy "Wielogłosu"

Henryk Markiewicz’s Marvellings
The review discusses Henryk Markiewicz column Moje zdziwienia [My Marvellings] run in “Wielogłos” since 2008. Markiewicz commented on current events at the academia and literary criticism. This column was an outstanding example of Markiewicz’s knowledge and critical and analytical abilities. In Moje zdziwienia he fought against academic incompetence, obscurity, ignorance, irresponsibility and opportunism. He was an excellent polemist. His column also proved Markiewicz’s sense of humor and literary skills. As Maciej Urbanowski suggests Markiewicz’s activity resembled in some ways that of Karol Irzykowski, one of the most independent Polish literary critics in 20th century.