NOT ONLY CRITICALLY ON CRITICS CRITICISING CRITICISM
What is most interesting in all debates between critics of various kinds and provenance, is probably the fact that these debates are still much around. And it doesn't really matter that more often than not their participants themselves question the point of discussing an issue in a given magazine and would rather see it dropped, leave it in a dead end it came to, unresolved, for ever and ever, since nobody remembers why and for whom this debate was taken up. I owe my readers an apology for the abundance of repetitions, however, the topic of critical or pseudo-critical debates, discussions, disputes, mutual teasing and even arguments was so often treated in this elevated and confusing manner that I couldn't resist the temptation to repeat myself a bit as well. In fact, everything is quite simple. Usually, an issue of a literary magazine consists of a part devoted to poetry, a part devoted to prose and, finally, something we'll call, exaggerating a bit, a part devoted to literary criticism. There are of course some exceptions from this “trinity” drafted here. From time to time, one can come across a bit of drama, social life (like in Gala or Viva; although, contrary to popular magazines, it is almost impossible to spot a photo of an individual not holding a glass of alcohol in his hand; as is unofficially known, taking a photo of a poet without a glass raised to his lips is a life dream of many photographers), a few interviews, commentaries on a vernissage or a play, a list of books and invitations the editor received etc. But the name of the game in this, I admit, longish and highly digressive introduction, is exactly the part of a literary magazine that deals with literary criticism. Besides reviews, drafts, essays, annotations and sparse questionnaires what can be found here are the earlier mentioned critical debates.
Long, long time ago, it was the case that such debates were indeed about literature, a particular book, a given author, trend, epoch etc. Today's critics usually grapple with passing critical judgments on other critics and on literary criticism in general, complaining on the overall state of affairs and on the condition of criticism they engage themselves in. They will not miss any chance to give a few invaluable pieces of advice to budding authors and, necessarily, to question the purport and the essential value of critical debates. I would have written “critical literary debates” but, believe me, the adjectives “literary” and “critical” do not go well together today. As I've mentioned it is most interesting that such debates are still around. If, as a reader, I was to define what's their best part, without a doubt I would say “The very reading of them”. There is possibly nothing more delightful than a cup of coffee and a roll in the morning with a bit of criticism for a company. In most cases, this pleasure is a sadomasochistic one. Frequently, this masochism may even add flavour to your coffee. Sadly, it is more and more seldom that a set of (pseudo-)critical texts would give me so much amusement and leave me slack-jawed with astonishment that there was still something to say about a topic taken up hundreds of times before, but then it was always the same and in the same manner and now it is different and in a slightly different style. What I am talking about is a double issue of Silesian Kursywa (4-5/2005) entitled Od plemnika do krytyka (From Sperm to Critic).
The two introductory paragraphs, touching upon highly theoretical and general aspects of the phenomenon described, were used purposefully. My way of reasoning was such: the issue of Kursywa I was to write about is worth reading entirely so there was no point in summarising particular articles. Furthermore, every article in the issue is worth commenting upon by a properly formulated polemics or a subtly sketched hymn of admiration. Let us take, for example, Przedmowa do czytania (A Preface to Reading) by Krzystof Uniłowski. In this article the author deals with a widely known and discussed piece of writing by Przemysław Czapliński (Powrót centrali? Literatura w nowej rzeczywistości, Kresy, nr 1/2005). He remarks: “In effect, Polish literary life assumed a shape of a caricature or an upside down postmodernism. It goes without saying that this is not what the enthusiasts of freedom, tolerance and diversity were dreaming of. Instead of diversification we are facing an era of reproduction. Instead of freedom, we have restriction. Uniformity and similarity are revered, not diversity. But is it really a fault of postmodernism? Maybe it was a smith, not Cygan?” In general, the point of the article is that Uniłowski holds Czapliński in high regard, but in many places (these are often individual words and sentences nit-pickingly focused on) does not agree with him. And you know – Sapkowski's books are the good ones. Next in the row comes Jakub Winiarski, fighting wherever he appears, be it Nieszuflada.pl web page, a daily supplement of Studium, an article against dull critics in Lampa (according to him, the greatest mistake the editor of Lampa made was publishing a highly critical and even more incompetent and stupid review of Winiarski's own book). What he presents us with in Kursywa is more or less a continuation of his attack on stupid critics and defense of wise books. According to Winiarski, a wise book is the one the author of which doesn't allow to criticise, especially when the critique is incompetent and foolish. Whether Winiarski's reasoning is correct I am not really sure. Nevertheless, his essays are worth reading, even if only in order to formulate a personal opinion on his antropo-winiarskian vision of literary criticism. The idea of the authorial ”I”, however, is much more a center of Darius Pada's essay Krytyka praktycznego egotyzmu (A Critique of Practical Egotism), which deals with Nieszuflada's poets, their egos foregrounded in their poetry and Pada's colleagues, who are in fact more than colleagues; they are poets too and these poets are colleagues and so on. The conclusion is that in such circumstances it is almost impossible to be a critic, so maybe one should better do something else instead and deal with criticism only during intimate and flavoured by a pint and a cigarette talks with one's colleague-poet. To my mind, this particular essay is on the one hand humorous, on the other shrewd. Another humorous essay is by Joanna Mueller. Fun begins with its very title Nienia Nieńki, czyli stratygrafia krytyczna (Nenny, Nennling or Critical Stratigraphy) and lasts to the last dot, or rather a question mark. Fortunately, it is not as off-putting as the title may suggest, quite the opposite .Starting from there it gets better, funnier, more auto-ironical and, what is most important, wiser. Even the quotation from G. Steiner will make you laugh. In the last issue of Kursywa you will also find an essay by Karol Maliszewski, who writes about attendant critics and how undesirable their situation is. But what else could it be since according to the most noble inner principles they try to give a helping hand to others and what they get in return is nothing more than silence or sniggering, emptiness and seclusion, lack of understanding and oblivion. In another essay its author Justyna Sobolewska elaborates on how bad the state of affairs is and how everything should look like (she remarks: “The thing we suffer from most is the lack of zeal. Only zeal can induce an emotion in a reader. Instead, there is coldness, very self-confident coldness.”). In addition to that, Kursywa offers two essays by Marek K. E. Baczewski: Nie lubię współczesnej poezji (I Don't Like Modern Poetry), which I heartily recommend (it is probably the best piece of the issue) and a review of J. Dehnel Wyprawy na południe (Journeys to the South). I also recommend reading poems by Dehnel (two pages earlier in the issue) – the one I liked best was Andy Warhol... Last but not least comes an important, wise and entertaining essay by Mariusz Sieniewicz, no longer a critic, and few other articles.
Without a shadow of hesitation I recommend Kursywa. It is a pity that it is published quarterly and an issue counts not more than 16 pages. It is not enough even for the ride from Krakow to Warsaw by an Inter-city train.
Grzegorz Wysocki
Translated by Anna Skrajna
Discussed journals: Kursywa