Maciej Jakubowiak

Dangers of salvation
This review of Sprawiedliwość na końcu języka. Czytanie Waltera Benjamina by Adam Lipszyc locates the book in the framework of a wider phenomenon of interest in Walter Benjamin’s writings in contemporary Polish humanities. Author of the review indicates the basic assumption of homogeneity of the Benjamin’s writings, involving continuous elaboration of the “justice act” formula. The resulting preference for theological perspective, which becomes axiological frame for the analysis contained in the book, is questionable to reviewer. Despite these methodological concerns, the review underlines the impressive character of the analyzes conducted by Lipszyc, including not only a detailed reconstruction of Benjamin’s thought, but also the broader context of the philosophy of the twentieth century. The most important idea for literary studies turns out to be a dialectical relationship between philosophy and literature (criticism, history, translatology), which is being introduced by Lipszyc following Benjamin’s work.

In a review of a book Wielcy artyści ucieczek. Antologia tekstów o „Życiu i czasach Michaela K.” w trzydziestą rocznicę publikacji, an author analyses the mere idea of an anthology of interpretations, describing its two possible understandings: as a collection of incomparable perspectives and as a field of conflict. The author emphasizes difficulties of interpretational procedures related to the novel by J.M. Coetzee and points to a political meanings of an act of reading. Additionally, texts collected in the anthology are classified by different attitudes towards the work of meanings in the novel, and some reductional practices are criticized. Finally, the author places the anthology in a wider horizon of interpretational strategies in contemporary humanities, asking questions regarding their importance – or lack of it.