Pisarz jako gwiazdor : przypadek Jerzego Pilcha

Abstract

The paper talks about literary career of Jerzy Pilch (b. 1952) who achieved its peak after publishing his novel "Pod Mocnym Aniołem" (2000). The first-person narrator introduced himself as a textual alter ego of the writer, creating an illusion of the autobiographical testimony but also providing autoreflection toward his own earlier literary output. Within the frames of the game played with the public, initiated by means of highest-circulation press, the writer willingly assumed the role of his own alter ego (an alcoholic rescued by love), but he also warned of naive identification of literature with life. Despite this ambiguity, he eventually turned out to be a victim of his own image and became unpopular among literary critics who were discouraged by the attitude to follow - and simultaneously go beyond - the rules of mass communication ended with a failure. It resulted in forcing reluctant critics to remain faithful to the traditional (for modernism) model of literary communication which takes for a granted a conflict between the author and the public. Consequently, certain innovative aspects of Pilch's fiction essentially related with the idea of literature based on the principle of ironic repetition (pastiche) have never been recognized.