Jacek Partyka

The article focuses on the best-know Holocaust photograph, which shows the War saw Ghetto boy. Its amazing popularity has led to numerous misuses, particularly in the sphere of popular culture, and, as a consequence, is often seen as an instance of trivializing the Holocaust. The author locates his discussion in the context of Susan Sontag’s essay On Photography and points to the ethical value of the references to the boy in the paintings of Samuel Bak, which exemplify a new way of thinking about the inaccessible experience of the child.JACEK PARTYKA – dr, pracuje jako adiunkt w Kolegium Literaturoznawstwa na Wydziale Filologicznym Uniwersytetu w Białymstoku, gdzie prowadzi seminaria i kursy z historii literatury amerykańskiej. Jego zainteresowania badawcze obejmują amerykańską poezję modernistyczną i postmodernistyczną, odniesienia do Zagłady w prozie amerykańskiej oraz wykorzystanie materiałów archiwalnych w tekście literackim. Jest autorem licznych prac, w tym na temat Charlesa R...

The paper attempts to consider the problem of W. H. Auden’s political engagement in the 1930s in the context of his (in)famous decision to leave England and settle down in the USA. The transatlantic journey of the eponymous member of so-called “Auden generation” prompted certain critics (notably Randall Jarrell) to set up a distinct caesura between the “English” and the “American” Auden, giving primacy to the accomplishments of the former and downplaying the works of the latter. As it is argued, America was not the place of the poet’s radical volte-face, but only a certain important, logical stage (and not a final one) in his personal and poetic evolution. His entanglements with politics were often mythologized, and occasional public and semi-political verse he “committed” often tended to subvert any attempts to pigeonhole the author in terms of his ideological stance.

... Other Titles: Poetry as Palimpsest. WH Auden's American Longer Poems. Authors: Partyka, Jacek. Advisor: Wilczyński, Marek. Keywords: WH Auden TS Eliot Modernizm Modernism Tradycja Tradition Intertekstualność Intertextuality. Issue Date: 7-Oct-2010. ...

The article considers the poetry of Objectivist poet Charles Reznikoff as informed by the frequent use of rhetoric of silence. The analysis is two-fold: first, it explains the two theoretical key terms, sincerity and objectification, as distinct features of the Objectivist verse, which are crucial in the thematic framework of the analysis, and, second, it gives examples of the practical use thereof by Reznikoff, who is viewed as the poet-witness.

The article examines the ways in which American Objectivist poet Charles Reznikoff (1894–1976) rewrites and compiles excerpts from US archival legal records in his epic-like Testimony. The United States (1885–1915): Recitative (published from 1965 to 1978) so as to represent the social and economic changes, particularly within the context of industrial accidents and child labor, during the late phase of the Industrial Revolution in America. As is argued, the poet’s often uncritically accepted assertion that in his ‘recitatives’ he engages with depositions of authentic witnesses given in a court of law in an unbiased, objective manner is not confirmed either in close reading or in the juxtaposition of particular fragments of the book with the original documentary material on which they are based.

The book examines the modalities of witnessing in the works of Charles Reznikoff. Associated with the so-called “Objectivist” group created in New York in the early 1930s, Reznikoff is often called a poet-witness because the material he draws on in his poetry and, to a lesser extent in prose, comes from his observations of urban life and from authentic testimonies he found in archives. Yet, the process of turning eye-witnessed situations and contents of depositions given by other witnesses into literary texts is far from objective. In particular, Reznikoff’s use of archival material is informed by subtly camouflaged manipulation. To demonstrate various degrees of this change, the book centers on a comparative juxtaposition of the poet’s works with the original documents.

The book examines the modalities of witnessing in the works of Charles Reznikoff. Associated with the so-called “Objectivist” group created in New York in the early 1930s, Reznikoff is often called a poet-witness because the material he draws on in his poetry and, to a lesser extent in prose, comes from his observations of urban life and from authentic testimonies he found in archives. Yet, turning eye-witnessed situations and contents of depositions given by other witnesses into literary texts is far from objective. In particular, Reznikoff’s use of archival material is informed by subtly camouflaged manipulation. The book centers on a comparative juxtaposition of the poet’s works with the original documents to demonstrate various degrees of this change.