The Avant-garde in the 'Broken World'. Excerpts from Władysław Strzemiński's novel
ms2, Ogrodowa 19
Wednesday, 27th January, at 18.00 hrs.
The lecture organised within the series ‘Liaisons of literature and visual arts after 1945’.
Władysław Strzemiński, well known as a painter and a theoretician of art, remains largely unknown as an author of literary work. Yet, his interest in the art of word seems to have been quite significant. Strzemiński undertook to design the graphics of poetry books (mostly those by Julian Przyboś). He was fascinated by the art of printing and the book as an object of fine arts, while some researchers assign to Strzemiński the authorship of the collection of poems ‘Motorem Słów’ [‘Words Catalyst’].
The unfinished novel, to be discussed during the lecture, seems interesting nowadays for a number of reasons. The novel, written in 1940s, that portrays the world falling apart at the time of the Holocaust, may still be read as a clear echo of the avant-garde poetics and the social or ideological postulates or the new art. Strzemiński the writer, witnesses a number of self-betrayals, and yet he persistently defends the pre-cataclysm world. And, although it cannot be saved, Strzemiński undertakes an attempt to preserve this lost world in his language.
Michalina Kmiecik - PhD. Graduated from the Jagiellonian University in Cracow (comparative studies) and works at the Chair of Theory of Literature, Faculty of Polish Studies of the Jagiellonian University of Cracow. M. Kmiecik is the author of the book entitled “Oblicza miejsca. Topiczne i atopiczne wyobrażenia przestrzeni w poezji Juliana Przybosia”[Aspects of Place. Topical and Atopical Images of Space in the Poetry of Julian Przyboś (2013) and literary history papers published in ‘Ruch Literacki’ [‘Literary Movement’] and ‘Teksty drugie’ [‘Second Texts’] journals. She is a member of the scientific council of the series awangarda/rewizje [Avant-garde/revisions] at the Jagiellonian University Press. The research interests of M. Kmiecik concentrate on the theories of the Avant-garde, intermedia, experimental poetry and geopoetics.
Admission free.
