Styl późny w służbie sztuki życia : o późnej poezji Davida Herberta Lawrence'a

Abstract

The point of departure for the following article is the belief that the concept of the late style, which was conceptualised primarily in the context of artistic endeavours, due to its reflection on the nature of maturing, growing old, or the complex relationship between subjectivity and time, appears to share a certain affinity with the philosophy of existence much broader than just the art theory. Stylisation can be thus treated as an ancillary term, subordinate to the domain of existential aestheticisation (Richard Schusterman), whose existence is clearly inscribed into the modern philosophical project, though, in a broader sense, it has been present in philosophy from the very beginning, manifesting itself in the figure of life understood as a work of art. Thus, the author of the article ponders the notion of the late style in the context of the aesthetics of existence, while the primary research goal becomes its concrete exemplification on the basis of one of the later poetic works of D.H. Lawrence—a writer who on the one hand was taken before his time by an insidious illness, and on the other hand developed his sense of “lateness” and belatedness with reference to his contemporaries who died in the First World War. The reflections on the matter are highly influenced by the excellent late (and unfinished) book by Edward Said, On Late Style.