‘Three Spectres in the Infinitive’: Witold Wirpsza’s Spectral Conjugations Cover Image
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„Trójka widm w bezokoliczniku”. Spektralne koniugacje Witolda Wirpszy
‘Three Spectres in the Infinitive’: Witold Wirpsza’s Spectral Conjugations

Author(s): Piotr Bogalecki
Subject(s): Philosophy, Language and Literature Studies, Literary Texts, Studies of Literature, Metaphysics, Theology and Religion, Polish Literature
Published by: Instytut Badań Literackich Polskiej Akademii Nauk
Keywords: Witold Wirpsza; Zgryzota i dalekie światło [Distress and a Distant Light]; linguistic poetry; post-secularism; hauntology; spectre

Summary/Abstract: This article presents an interpretation of Witold Wirpsza’s poem ‘Zgryzota i dalekie światło’ [Distress and a Distant Light]. Bogalecki begins with an analysis of the poem’s formulas and procedures in a Deleuzian context. His goal is twofold: first, to deduce Wirpsza’s understanding of the theme of the spectre, which only becomes meaningful through Jacques Derrida’s hauntology and the works of Giorgio Agamben and John D. Caputo. The second goal is to indicate a direction for a post-secular reinterpretation of Wirpsza’s work. His return to the theological or religious tradition can be understood as a deconstruction of the traditional form of religious and metaphysical poetry. The effect turns out to be an affirmative recognition of the language of religion as a spectre that incessantly ‘haunts’ modern, seemingly secularized discourses.

  • Issue Year: 2016
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 254-271
  • Page Count: 18
  • Language: Polish