Antologia jako "gatunek koronny" naszych czasów

Abstract

By referencing genealogical conclusions drawn by Ireneusz Opacki in his article on the interweaving of generic forms as the marker of the evolution of poetry (Krzyżowanie się postaci gatunkowych jako wyznacznik ewolucji poezji), the author poses a hypothesis, that the anthology is an overlooked and wrongly belittled “royal genre” of our times. At the source of the form, as its etymology suggests, are the elementary models of collecting and binding (gr. anthologia ‘a collection of flowers, a bouquet’), once used on the margins of the Housebook, nowadays on the assembly table, an internet blog or a DJ’s mixing desk. The anthology, set against the backdrop of such cultural phenomena as video clips, web pages, the hypertext, rap, contemporary silva rerum or Abecedariuses, but also the scourge of plagiarism, appears to be a form characteristic of the postmodern heritage of a digitalized civilization. It would seem that the contemporary plethora of books and blogs titled or subtitled “an anthology” is one of the effects of the global omnipotence of the citation.