Pożytki z literatury. Szok (Przeł. M. Kunz i T. Kunz)
Uses of Literature: Shock (Trans. M. Kunz i T. Kunz)

Summary/Abstract: In her article Rita Felski deals with the category of shock as a type of interaction between text and reader, and also as a mode of textual engagement. She asks how we may value the experience of being shocked by what we read. Felski scrutinises such different literary works as Euripides’ The Bacchae, Kleist’s Penthesilea, Baudelaire’s The Carcass, Weiss’s Marat/Sade, or Gayl Jones’ contemporary novel Eva’s Man, comparing the strength and impact of shock effect in different historical moments. She shows that shocking and being shocked by a work of art is a salient element of our aesthetic experiences. Shock fascinates her not only as a formal innovation, stylistic subversion or unconventionality, but also and above all as a power which invades our consciousness and wreaks havoc our usual ways of ordering and understanding the world.

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