Volume 21 Issue 1

The article discusses the topic of academic writing and describes the requirements set for scholarly books, and especially those in the humanities, starting off with a thought experiment, in which an attempt is made to describe the “ideal” scholarly and academic book. The aim of the article is to not only describe the contrary requirements set for scholarly books (and the techniques implemented in order to avoid said contrary requirements, including the method of double coding) but also to defend the diversity of academic forms of expression, inclusive of the forms which have been traditionally seen as inaccessible for the reader from outside of academic circles.

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Jak (i dlaczego) kłócono się o język badań literackich?

Artur Hellich

Konteksty Kultury, Volume 21 Issue 1, 2024, pp. 43-60

https://doi.org/10.4467/23531991KK.24.008.19751

The aim of the article is to discuss and interpret, from the perspective of sociology of knowledge, a few debates on style and terminology of literary studies which took place in the 20th and 21st century in the circles of the literary studies scholars in Warsaw. In the first part of the article, the author discusses the debates concerning the terminology of verse theory in the pre- and post-war periods in the context of its societal reach. Next, he summarizes the discussions that took place in the 1950s and 1960s, which criticized the use of scientific language in the humanities . The second part of the article is dedicated to two more recent debates: one centered around the reception of Ilustrowany słownik terminów literackich (Illustrated dictionary of literary terms; here again returns the question of the societal reach of humanities research); and the other one focused on the requirement of schematization of writing in the humanities, related to the influence capitalism on the humanities, and the resultant opportunities and dangers. Using the sociology of P. Bourdieu and its newer interpretations (A. Zysiak), as well as S. Ahmed’s approach, the author argues that each standpoint represented in the debates on the language of the humanities (its proper style and preferred terminology) is inevitably political. Starting with this observation, in each case the author points out the political dimension of the argumentation presented by individual scholars: the elitist-conservative one, the liberal identity-based one, and the left egalitarian one.

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Wiersz jak wysychająca rzeka i nasza wrażliwość. O współczesnej ekokrytyce w badaniach literackich

Łukasz Żurek

Konteksty Kultury, Volume 21 Issue 1, 2024, pp. 61-77

https://doi.org/10.4467/23531991KK.24.009.19752

The article deals with the relationship between beliefs about the sources/causes of the climate crisis and ecocriticism in literary studies. The author emphasizes that literary studies, being a cultural practice, is not isolated from the ideological nature of contemporary reality. In his analysis, the author focuses on the visions of causality of a literary work and accounts on interpretation present in Polish ecocriticism. The works of Polish authors associated with ecocriticism provide material for the reconstruction of those beliefs.

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Literatura a religia. Tradycje polskiej i bułgarskiej humanistyki w perspektywie kulturowej konfrontacji

Ewelina Drzewiecka

Konteksty Kultury, Volume 21 Issue 1, 2024, pp. 78-97

https://doi.org/10.4467/23531991KK.24.010.19753

The article addresses the differences in the ways in which the research issue of “literaturę and religion” is understood and interpreted in the humanities. The focus of attention is on Polish and Bulgarian literary studies as two cases which are very different in terms of socio-cultural, political and religious conditions. The analysis is conducted from a postsecular perspective and serves to indicate a possible crypto-theological framework for assumptions and practices typical of the Polish and Bulgarian scholarly fields. The aim of the article is to comment on the cultural contexts that condition local specificities, and to show the possibilities of using those for the purposes of self-distancing and invigorating of the discipline(s).

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Title pages and imprint PDF Contents PDF Notes about Authors [pl] PDF

Słowa kluczowe: academic writing, scholarly character, double coding, humanities, language of the humanities, field, distinction, emotions, verse theory, literary terminology, expression, style, ecocriticism, Walter Benn Michaels, climate crisis, Marxism, literature and religion, postsecular thought, literary studies, Polish culture, Bulgarian culture

Funding information

The publication of this issue was financed by the Jagiellonian University in Kraków – Faculty of Polish Studies.

Volume 21 Issue 1

2024 Next

Issue content

Writing the Humanities

Essays and commentaries

Articles

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Funding information

2024