Reviews: “Wieloryby i ćmy” Are Not So Dreadful (as They Are Painted) [S. Twardoch: “Whales and moths”] Cover Image

Recenzje i omówienia: Nie takie „Wieloryby i ćmy” straszne (jak je malują) [dot. S. Twardoch: „Wieloryby i ćmy”]
Reviews: “Wieloryby i ćmy” Are Not So Dreadful (as They Are Painted) [S. Twardoch: “Whales and moths”]

Author(s): Marek Mikołajec
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Essay|Book Review |Scientific Life, Studies of Literature, Polish Literature, Book-Review, Theory of Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego
Keywords: Szczepan Twardoch; intimate diary; self-creation

Summary/Abstract: The author of the article, inspired by Dariusz Nowacki’s review, proposes a thesis opposite to that of the famous critic, who calls Szczepan Twardoch’s and Jacek Dehnel’s diaries “a show-off of avatars.” In defence of Twardoch’s book, “Wieloryby i ćmy” [“Whales and moths”] the author decides to concentrate on its ideological and literary values. Most importantly, he strives to prove that the diaries constitute an original and innovative attempt at developing a genre of intimate diaries and have a multifaceted interpretive potential. The author of “Morfina” [“Morphine”] expresses in his diaries a desire for “directing a great life,” understood as a consistent creation of literary works as well as a life imitating literature. The analyses and commentaries included in the article focus on the oppositions and hypostases found in the text, for example, of the world and provincial, history and life, literature and nothingness, settlement and foreignness, life and death, presence and absence, life according to spirit and life according to body, responsibility and its lack.

  • Issue Year: 2015
  • Issue No: 2 (7)
  • Page Range: 269-282
  • Page Count: 14
  • Language: Polish