The Problems of Literary Genres http://hdl.handle.net/11089/40698 2026-09-01T18:45:50Z 2026-09-01T18:45:50Z Balducci, Marino A. http://hdl.handle.net/11089/59185 2026-09-01T02:06:56Z 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z

Dante’s Family Roots: Cacciaguida, the Holy War, and True Nobility in the Age of Proto-Mercantilism Balducci, Marino A. Czerska, Tatiana; Płuciennik, Jarosław; Zatora, Anna This study explores the profound relationship between Dante Alighieri and his ancestral roots during a pivotal historical transition. Set against the decline of feudalism and the rise of a new mercantile bourgeois class, the analysis focuses on Dante’s encounter in the Paradiso with his ancestor, Cacciaguida. It is through this heroic figure — a martyr of the Second Crusade — that the Alighieri family claims its degree of nobility. Cacciaguida serves as the poet’s guide into the concept of “true nobility,” which is earned through sacrifice and service in the Holy Land rather than mere inheritance. Adopting a philosophical and hermeneutic approach, the research follows the methodology of the Carla Rossi Academy — International Institute of Italian Studies in Tuscany. This critical framework interprets Dante’s compositional style through “symphonic symbolism,” specifically examining how the theme of authentic aristocracy is redefined. Instead of traditional class distinctions, Dante’s “authentic aristocracy” is subtly intertwined with core Christian values such as humility, merciful justice, and tolerance. In dealing with the martyrdom of Cacciaguida, it is necessary to reflect on the difference between the Christian principle of religious tolerance and the violent intolerance of Islam. The study ultimately argues that Dante’s vision of nobility is a sophisticated poetic discourse that remains free from rigid doctrinal or dogmatic conditioning. By connecting family history with spiritual merit, the poet establishes a model of nobility that transcends the materialistic shifts of his time, emphasizing a moral and historical identity rooted in faith and personal virtue.

2026-01-01T00:00:00Z Gacek, Norbert http://hdl.handle.net/11089/59184 2026-09-01T02:06:52Z 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z

“If I Want to Imagine a Fictive Nation…”: The Balzacian Model of the Opening Passage in Roland Barthes’ Writing Gacek, Norbert Czerska, Tatiana; Płuciennik, Jarosław; Zatora, Anna This paper explores Roland Barthes’s use of Balzac’s narrative techniques in the openings of L’Empire des signes and Système de la mode. While drawing on the arguments presented by Andrea Del Lungo in his analysis of the poetics of Balzac’s incipit published in 2003, I try to demonstrate how Barthes follows a similar approach to the one represented by Balzac. When it comes to the L’Empire des signes, I seek to prove that Barthes constructs a fictional version of Japan, not by mimicking the real country, but by isolating specific elements and organizing them into a cohesive whole. This method mirrors Balzac’s strategy of creating self-contained worlds within books that form the overall universe of La Comédie humaine. Barthes’s integration of photography into his book further reflects the tension between the real and the imagined, echoing Balzac’s symbolic use of objects transcribed into language. This phenomenon can also be observed in Barthes’ analysis of clothing from Système de la Mode. However, I believe that Barthes departs from Balzac’s totalizing vision, opting instead for a fragmented approach that signals a shift in literary techniques from the 19th to the 20th century. While Balzac sought to form a unified world, Barthes emphasizes the selective, arbitrary nature of modern literary creation and, thus, the constructed character of knowledge.

2026-01-01T00:00:00Z Stefańska, Magdalena http://hdl.handle.net/11089/59183 2026-09-01T02:06:54Z 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z

Dokument żałobny jako dokument osobisty Stefańska, Magdalena Czerska, Tatiana; Płuciennik, Jarosław; Zatora, Anna This article examines the mourning document as a distinct form within personal document literature in contemporary Polish autobiographical writing. It focuses on texts that emerge from the experience of losing a close family member and explores how grief functions both as an impulse for writing and as a principle shaping narrative form. These works are situated within the twentieth-century tradition of personal document literature, particularly diaristic practices, while also understood as hybrid structures combining diary, memoir, essay, and therapeutic record. The analysis is organized around three interrelated categories: the moment of narrative initiation, the material and medial dimension of the record, and autothematic reflection. First, the article distinguishes between texts written during illness, in anticipation of death, and those composed retrospectively, demonstrating how temporal positioning influences narrative structure and perspective. Second, it considers the materiality of mourning testimony, including notebooks, photographs, and digital recordings, showing how the medium participates in shaping the representation of loss. Third, it examines autothematic gestures through which authors reflect on the act of writing itself, revealing a tension between the perceived inadequacy of language and the compulsion to continue writing. Drawing on works by Anna Augustyniak, Justyna Bargielska, Marek Bieńczyk, Wojciech Czuchnowski, Inga Iwasiów, Mira Marcinów, Mateusz Pakuła, Tadeusz Różewicz, Michał Turowski, Agata Tuszyńska, Justyna Wicenty, Marcin Wicha, Aleksandra Zbroja, the article argues that contemporary mourning documents both inherit and transform the conventions of personal document literature, redefining the relationship between grief, memory, and literary form.

2026-01-01T00:00:00Z Jeżak, Gabriela http://hdl.handle.net/11089/59179 2026-08-28T02:09:10Z 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z

Dziedziczenie przynależności. Problem przekształceń definicyjnych literatury polsko-żydowskiej po 1948 roku w perspektywie pisarstwa kobiet Jeżak, Gabriela Czerska, Tatiana; Płuciennik, Jarosław; Zatora, Anna This article examines the problem of redefining Polish-Jewish literature after 1948, with particular attention to women’s writing as a privileged site for negotiating inherited identity, memory, and belonging. Building on earlier theoretical frameworks proposed by Władysław Panas and Eugenia Prokop-Janiec, as well as the concept of “minor literature” developed by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, the study argues that the traditional criteria of language and ethnic origin are no longer sufficient to describe postwar Polish-Jewish literary production. Instead, it proposes a dynamic, threefold model that combines language, cultural self-identification, and biographical ties to territory. The year 1948 — marked by the establishment of the State of Israel, mass migration, and the aftermath of the Holocaust -functions as a crucial historical and conceptual turning point, necessitating new classificatory distinctions, including the differentiation between Polish-Jewish and Polish-Israeli variants of literature written in Polish. These theoretical considerations are illustrated through close readings of prose by Bożena Keff and Viola Wein, whose works represent contrasting yet complementary post-Holocaust, second-generation perspectives. While Keff explores identity through spatial confinement, language, and post-memory rooted in Poland, Wein foregrounds emigration, displacement, and the temporal “freezing” of memory in Israel. Their texts reveal how women’s narratives articulate inherited trauma, negotiate minority subjectivity within the Polish language, and reconfigure the boundaries of national literature. Ultimately, the article demonstrates that contemporary women’s writing plays a central role in reshaping the definition and scope of Polish — Jewish literature in the postwar period.

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