Parrhesia: Exercises in Speaking Sincerely

The paper examines the notion of parrhesia (from Greek ‘to speak everything’) as an exercise in speaking openly and sincerely. Leaving aside Michel Foucault’s treatment of this discursive activity, the main purpose of the article is to describe parrhesia in three domains: rhetoric, philosophy, and literature. As a figure of speech, it remains closely associated with rhetorical simulation and flattery. For many rhetoricians, for instance Quintilian or Jakub Górski, parrhesia may serve as a useful instrument of critical speaking. As a “spiritual exercise” in telling the truth, it plays an important role in transforming philosophy into a general way of life. In accordance with Philodemus’s beliefs on frank speech, one may argue that parrhesia helps in attaining wisdom in a student milieu. And finally, as a discursive strategy, it creates many possibilities for expanding the modes of linguistic expression, for instance in Horace’s ode to Virgil (Carmina I 24) or in Maciej Kazimierz Sarbiewski’s ode to Publius Munatius (Lyrica III 5). In both texts, parrhesia is involved in the discourse of friendship.

“An Honest Word About Himself.” The Work of Waldemar Bawołek in the Light of the Cynic Tradition

The article is an attempt to read the works of Waldemar Bawołek in the light of the cynic matrix of an other life, as interpreted in the texts of Michel Foucault and Peter Sloterdijk. The work of Bawołek is treated as an existential project in line with the cynic tradition of spiritual exercises, in which the key role is played by the ideal of honesty and the principles of shamelessness, poverty, vigilance and sovereignty that serve its implementation. In Foucault’s thought, this tradition was presented as a kind of wandering idea whose separate forms are, among others, Christian ascetic patterns, the Nietzschean concept of the superman, or the modernist paradigm of authenticity. The category of the subject’s sincerity in Bawołek’s work is presented with reference to the theoretical model of the sylleptic self, which in the final part of the article is confronted with the main features of the New Sincerity literary trend.

Strategies of Authenticity in Ignacy Karpowicz’s Prose (Sońka and Miłość)

The article concerns two books by Ignacy Karpowicz – Sońka from 2014 and Miłość from 2017, interpreted in an autobiographical context. This context serves not so much to highlight the links between these novels and the writer’s experiences, but to recreate the “strategy of authenticity” used by Karpowicz in Sońka and the “strategy of honesty” used in Miłość. Both constitute a kind of “pact” (similar to the “autobiographical pact”) concluded with the readers by the author. According to Olga Szmidt’s deliberations, one of the inalienable elements of the “discourse of authenticity” is the undisclosed secret, which in Sońka’s case turns out to be the protagonist’s (homo) sexuality. The “strategy of honesty” is based on the assumption that the author does not hide anything from his audience. Both the interpretation of the two books contained in the text and the author’s brief discussion of their reception show that the “strategy of authenticity” seems to be more artistically effective.

Sincerity and Autothematism. The Case of Two Journalistic Texts by Wilhelm Mach

In the present article I examine in detail two journalistic texts by the Polish writer Wilhelm Mach. The main concern of the analysis is Mach’s implicit anxiety to be sincere. I am arguing here that the requirement for sincerity is intricately connected with the political atmosphere of the Thaw period in Poland, which began after Stalin’s death. I put forward the thesis that Mach’s positive validation of sincerity influences his programmatic metafiction and constitutes a reaction to the political situation. At the same time, reading the writer’s proposals against the background of the then-popular Soviet philosopher Vladimir Pamerancev’s ideas, I demonstrate that Mach is not convinced by the model of subjectivity behind the idea of honesty promoted at the time. His awareness of the role of literary conventions leads him to ironic subversion of the idea of directness and sincerity in literature.

“Exotic Mountaineering Exploration” or “Solemn Pilgrimage.” Andean Peaks, Polish Mountaineering and Stories of Mountain Exploration in the First Half of the 20th Century

The article concerns the stories of two Polish expeditions to the Andes in the 1930s as described in expedition books and personal diaries published between 1934 and 1961. The author analyzes the selected texts in terms of sincerity and authenticity. He considers the extent to which the specific discourses of mountaineers, stretched between personal perspective and the equirements of objectification, fit into modernity’s conceptualizations of sincerity as a paradoxical notion defined by the modern self.

Between the Eye and the Ear. About Szpital żydowski w Warszawie by Maria Konopnicka

In my article, I interpret the work Szpital żydowski w Warszawie [Jewish Hospital in Warsaw] by Maria Konopnicka with emphasis on the way it depicts acoustic phenomena. For the purpose of the analysis, I juxtapose their function with the role assigned to visual references. To this end, I refer to the methodology of sound studies and visual studies. As it turns out, Konopnicka recognizes acoustic phenomena as a way of expressing extreme emotions and limit-experiences (in this case – mental illness) as well as human authenticity. Moreover, by constructing an opposition between sight and hearing, she is able to contrast the world’s rational and irrational aspect and express a crisis of faith in terms of positivistic epistemology.

* Publikacja powstała przy wsparciu finansowym uzyskanym z Programu zintegrowanych działań na rzecz rozwoju Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego (ZIP), współfinansowanego ze środków Europejskiego Funduszu Społecznego w ramach Programu Operacyjnego Wiedza Edukacja Rozwój 2014–2020, ścieżka 3.5.

Beautiful Birthday Wishes, and Song, and Melody. Sincerity and Kitsch in Creative Activity of the Elderly on the Internet in the Context of Pierre Bourdieu’s Theory of Distinction

The subject of this article is the Internet activity and creativity of the elderly, understood as a form of radical sincerity. While the most popular take on the digital divide emphasizes lack of Internet access or technological competences, this paper focuses on the exclusion of the elderly users from the legitimate discourse of the  Internet. The author uses Pierre Bourdieu’s notion of distinction to discuss the role of distance and irony in the establishment of legitimate taste and its similarity to the irony-laden meme culture. The online meme discourse is contrasted with a particular form of creativity of the elderly, who do not only refuse to create an online persona but whose art is the perfect exemplification of Bourdieuian “working-class aesthetics.” The images – considered tawdry by the gatekeepers of legitimate taste – are a result of emulation of analog artifacts (such as postcards and greeting cards) in the new media. Their popularity among the elderly Internet users is caused by a non-selective transposition of offline relationships onto one’s activity in the social media.

Traces of A Man of Letters. On Henryk Markiewicz’s Pisma ostatnie

The article is both a review of the book by Henryk Markiewicz and a presentation of the writer’s figure which transpires from its content – a figure of an incredibly reliable and knowledgeable researcher of literature, a seasoned polemicist, and a keen observer of the most recent changes in literary studies.