Arabeska : szkice o poezji

Abstract

The book contains the interpretations of Polish poetry, including the analyses of the poetic works of such writers as: Jerzy Żuławski, Leopold Staff, Czeslaw Milosz, Jarosław Marek Rymkiewicz, Stanisław Barańczak, Adam Zagajewski and Marcin Swietlicki. Introduction displays different artistic representations of an arabesque, namely a decorative ornament known from the Islamic countries, a romantic literary genre, a musical form and a dancing position. The author understands a detailed composition of an arabesque as a metaphor for the structure of a text; precisely, it is a canvas which consists of the intersecting ‘code-threads’ that eventually shape a creative form. Finally, an arabesque turns out to be a model of reading and interpreting literature. The book consists of three main parts. In the first part of the paper, the analyses of the lyrical forms of expression are presented, namely a cascade (Jerzy Żuławski), an arabesque (Adam Zagajewski) and a villanelle (Stanisław Barańczak). The second part of the book examines the relations between poetry and the literary tradition. Chapter II investigates the intersections of different traditions in context of the contemporary poetry, that is connections, adaptations, reinterpretations and transformations. The last part of the book considers an encounter with the Other understood as both the Other as a fellow-townsman and the other: a critic, a literary theorist, a writer, a Great Precursor. These three issues are connected in a common yearn for interpretation, emphasis on a single poem and focus on poetics.