In her works, Ann Radcliffe continually expressed an unwavering appreciation of aesthetic pleasur... more In her works, Ann Radcliffe continually expressed an unwavering appreciation of aesthetic pleasure. Accordingly, one significant level of character evaluation in her fictional worlds is the characters' sensitivity to aesthetic experience, which typically functions as an indicator of virtue. In line with the recent revisionist tendencies in Radcliffe criticism, problematising things that so far have been taken for granted, this article is concerned with a negative, or at least dialectical, evaluation of aesthetic pleasure, which is offered in 'The Romance of the Forest' (1791) and 'The Mysteries of Udolpho' (1794). In particular, by concentrating on a reconciliation of villainy and aestheticism that is indicated in the narratives, the article shows how the seemingly antithetical arrangement of characters becomes destabilised; whereas by problematising the female sensitivity to art, it argues that aesthetic experience may pose a threat to the stability of selfhood. The heroines' reactions are read as illustrative of an implied dialectic between vulnerability and empowerment, which arguably underpins Radcliffe's handling of aesthetic pleasure in general.
Abstrakt: Jakub Lipski, " WIEK PRZEBRANIA " W POWIEŚCIACH HISTORYCZNYCH PETERA ACKROYDA. PORÓWNAN... more Abstrakt: Jakub Lipski, " WIEK PRZEBRANIA " W POWIEŚCIACH HISTORYCZNYCH PETERA ACKROYDA. PORÓWNANIA 19, 2016. T. XIX. S. 99–113. Znamienną cechą twórczości Petera Ackroyda jest wyraźne zespolenie powieściopisarstwa z popularną historiografią, czego przejawem jest niezmienne zainteresowanie autora formą powieści historycznej. Teksty, którym poświęcony jest niniejszy artykuł – Hawksmoor (1985), Chatterton (1987), The Lambs of London (2004) – podejmują próbę kreatywnej rekonstrukcji niektórych istotnych wydarzeń XVIII wieku. Powracające tematy, typy postaci oraz warstwa ideowa w wymienionych utworach wynikają z koncepcji tego stulecia jako "wieku przebrania" ("the Age of Disguise"). Metafora przebrania trafnie ilustruje specyfikę czasu, w którym delfickie zawołanie "poznaj samego siebie" nabrało nowego wymiaru. Przeprowadzona w artykule analiza, oparta na koncepcjach nowego historyzmu oraz teorii postmodernistycznej powieści historycznej, pokazuje, że Ackroydowska wizja XVIII wieku koresponduje z takim właśnie postrzeganiem tego stulecia. Abstract: Jakub Lipski, "THE AGE OF DISGUISE' IN PETER ACKROYD'S HISTORICAL NOVELS. "PORÓWNANIA" 19, 2016. Vol. XIX. P. 99–113. Peter Ackroyd's literary output is characterised by a clear interrelationship between fiction and popular historiography. This is best manifested in his unwavering interest in the form of the historical novel. The present article is devoted to the three novels which creatively reconstruct selected events of the eighteenth century: Hawksmoor (1985), Chatterton (1987) and The Lambs of London (2004). It is argued that the recurrent themes, characters and ideas result from Ackroyd's understanding of the century as "the Age of Disguise". The metaphor of disguise accurately renders the specificity of the time when the Delphic precept "know then thyself" was taking on a new dimension. Informed by New Historicism and the theory of the postmodern historical novel, the following article demonstrates that Ackroyd's vision of the eighteenth century corresponds with this approach to the period.
in "The New Review: An International Journal of British Studies", ed. Grażyna Bystydzieńska, issu... more in "The New Review: An International Journal of British Studies", ed. Grażyna Bystydzieńska, issue 5, 2015.
This article addresses the so-called quasi-masquerade scenes in Ann Radcliffe's The Mysteries of ... more This article addresses the so-called quasi-masquerade scenes in Ann Radcliffe's The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794) and The Italian (1797). Quasi-masquerade scenes include the element of masking and have similar narrative functions to masquerade scenes proper in well-known eighteenth-century novels. The article focuses on their potential to exude the atmosphere of a utopian fairyland and to perform the function of a plot catalyst. It also refers to the category of the self, attempting to account for its rather surprising dissociation from the discussed quasi-masquerade scenes.
Painting the Novel: Pictorial Discourse in Eighteenth-Century English Fiction, 2018
This book focuses on the interrelationship between eighteenth-century theories of the novel and t... more This book focuses on the interrelationship between eighteenth-century theories of the novel and the art of painting. It argues that throughout the century novelists from Daniel Defoe to Ann Radcliffe referred to the visual arts, recalling specific names or works of art, but also artistic styles and conventions, in an attempt to define the generic constitution of their fictions. In this, the novelists took part in the discussion of the sister arts, not only by pointing to the affinities between them but also, more importantly, by recognising their potential to inform one another; in other words, they expressed a conviction that the idea of a new genre can be successfully rendered through meta-pictorial analogies. By tracing the uses of painting in eighteenth-century novelistic discourse, this book sheds new light on the history of the so-called "rise of the novel".
Re-Reading the Eighteenth-Century Novel adds to the dynamically developing subfield of reception ... more Re-Reading the Eighteenth-Century Novel adds to the dynamically developing subfield of reception studies within eighteenth-century studies. Lipski shows how secondary visual and literary texts live their own lives in new contexts, while being also attentive to the possible ways in which these new lives may tell us more about the source texts. To this end the book offers five case studies of how canonical novels of the eighteenth century by Daniel Defoe, Henry Fielding and Laurence Sterne came to be interpreted by readers from different historical moments. Lipski prioritises responses that may seem non-standard or even disconnected from the original, appreciating difference as a gateway to unobvious territories, as well as expressing doubts regarding readings that verge on misinterpretative appropriation. The material encompasses textual and visual testimonies of reading, including book illustration, prints and drawings, personal documents, reviews, literary texts and literary criticism. The case studies are arranged in three sections: visual transvaluations, reception in Poland and critical afterlives, and are concluded by a discussion of the most recent socio-political uses and revisions of eighteenth-century fiction in the Age of Trump (2016-2020).
This book contributes to the development of contemporary historical fiction studies with new anal... more This book contributes to the development of contemporary historical fiction studies with new analyses of neo-Georgian fiction, which, unlike neo-Victorian fiction, until now has received little critical attention. The essays included in this collection study the ways in which selected twentieth-and twenty-first-century novels recreate the Georgian period in order to view its ideologies through the lens of such modern critical theories as performativity, post-colonialism, feminism or visual theories. They also demonstrate the rich repertoire of subgenres of neo-Georgian fiction, ranging from biographical fiction, epistolary novels to magical realism. The studies of the diverse novelistic conventions used to re contextualise the Georgian reality reflect the way we see its relevance and relation to the present and trace the indebtedness of the new forms of the contemporary novel to the traditional novelistic genres.
Published in 1719, Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe is one of those extraordinary literary works whose imp... more Published in 1719, Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe is one of those extraordinary literary works whose importance lies not only in the text itself but in its persistently lively afterlife. German author Johann Gottfried Schnabel—who in 1731 penned his own island narrative—coined the term “Robinsonade” to characterize the genre bred by this classic, and today hundreds of examples can be identified worldwide. This celebratory collection of tercentenary essays testifies to the Robinsonade’s endurance, analyzing its various literary, aesthetic, philosophical, and cultural implications in historical context. Contributors trace the Robinsonade’s roots from the eighteenth century to generic affinities in later traditions, including juvenile fiction, science fiction, and apocalyptic fiction, and finally to contemporary transmedial adaptations in film, television, theater, and popular culture. Taken together, these essays convince us that the genre’s formal and ideological adaptability to changing social and cultural circumstances explains its enduring relevance to this day.
This book presents a selection of research papers dealing with the notions of travel and identity... more This book presents a selection of research papers dealing with the notions of travel and identity in Anglophone literature and culture. Collectively, the chapters ponder such notions as self and other, race, centre and periphery, thus shedding new light on a number of issues that are highly relevant in the context of the ongoing migration crisis. The contributors employ a diverse range of theoretical standpoints – from close reading to deconstruction, from historically informed approaches to linguistic analysis – and thus offer a nuanced panorama of these issues, especially from the nineteenth century onwards.
In recent decades the masquerade has enjoyed a revival in literary and cultural studies. It has b... more In recent decades the masquerade has enjoyed a revival in literary and cultural studies. It has been seen as a symptom of the irrational trends permeating the Age of Reason and as a sign of the instability, arbitrariness as well as non-essentiality of personal identity; notions testifying to affinities between the eighteenth century and our own time.
In Quest of the Self offers a new consideration not only of the masquerade as such, but also of the ways in which it was transposed into literature during the period. Here it emerges as a dominant trope governing the poetics and the ideological dimensions of selected eighteenth-century novels by Henry Fielding, Tobias Smollett and Laurence Sterne. Throughout, the book demonstrates that the travelling protagonists of the novels, metaphorically speaking, take part in the ‘masquerade of the world’, finding themselves in quest of their own selves and struggling to determine who they really are.
In her works, Ann Radcliffe continually expressed an unwavering appreciation of aesthetic pleasur... more In her works, Ann Radcliffe continually expressed an unwavering appreciation of aesthetic pleasure. Accordingly, one significant level of character evaluation in her fictional worlds is the characters' sensitivity to aesthetic experience, which typically functions as an indicator of virtue. In line with the recent revisionist tendencies in Radcliffe criticism, problematising things that so far have been taken for granted, this article is concerned with a negative, or at least dialectical, evaluation of aesthetic pleasure, which is offered in 'The Romance of the Forest' (1791) and 'The Mysteries of Udolpho' (1794). In particular, by concentrating on a reconciliation of villainy and aestheticism that is indicated in the narratives, the article shows how the seemingly antithetical arrangement of characters becomes destabilised; whereas by problematising the female sensitivity to art, it argues that aesthetic experience may pose a threat to the stability of selfhood. The heroines' reactions are read as illustrative of an implied dialectic between vulnerability and empowerment, which arguably underpins Radcliffe's handling of aesthetic pleasure in general.
Abstrakt: Jakub Lipski, " WIEK PRZEBRANIA " W POWIEŚCIACH HISTORYCZNYCH PETERA ACKROYDA. PORÓWNAN... more Abstrakt: Jakub Lipski, " WIEK PRZEBRANIA " W POWIEŚCIACH HISTORYCZNYCH PETERA ACKROYDA. PORÓWNANIA 19, 2016. T. XIX. S. 99–113. Znamienną cechą twórczości Petera Ackroyda jest wyraźne zespolenie powieściopisarstwa z popularną historiografią, czego przejawem jest niezmienne zainteresowanie autora formą powieści historycznej. Teksty, którym poświęcony jest niniejszy artykuł – Hawksmoor (1985), Chatterton (1987), The Lambs of London (2004) – podejmują próbę kreatywnej rekonstrukcji niektórych istotnych wydarzeń XVIII wieku. Powracające tematy, typy postaci oraz warstwa ideowa w wymienionych utworach wynikają z koncepcji tego stulecia jako "wieku przebrania" ("the Age of Disguise"). Metafora przebrania trafnie ilustruje specyfikę czasu, w którym delfickie zawołanie "poznaj samego siebie" nabrało nowego wymiaru. Przeprowadzona w artykule analiza, oparta na koncepcjach nowego historyzmu oraz teorii postmodernistycznej powieści historycznej, pokazuje, że Ackroydowska wizja XVIII wieku koresponduje z takim właśnie postrzeganiem tego stulecia. Abstract: Jakub Lipski, "THE AGE OF DISGUISE' IN PETER ACKROYD'S HISTORICAL NOVELS. "PORÓWNANIA" 19, 2016. Vol. XIX. P. 99–113. Peter Ackroyd's literary output is characterised by a clear interrelationship between fiction and popular historiography. This is best manifested in his unwavering interest in the form of the historical novel. The present article is devoted to the three novels which creatively reconstruct selected events of the eighteenth century: Hawksmoor (1985), Chatterton (1987) and The Lambs of London (2004). It is argued that the recurrent themes, characters and ideas result from Ackroyd's understanding of the century as "the Age of Disguise". The metaphor of disguise accurately renders the specificity of the time when the Delphic precept "know then thyself" was taking on a new dimension. Informed by New Historicism and the theory of the postmodern historical novel, the following article demonstrates that Ackroyd's vision of the eighteenth century corresponds with this approach to the period.
in "The New Review: An International Journal of British Studies", ed. Grażyna Bystydzieńska, issu... more in "The New Review: An International Journal of British Studies", ed. Grażyna Bystydzieńska, issue 5, 2015.
This article addresses the so-called quasi-masquerade scenes in Ann Radcliffe's The Mysteries of ... more This article addresses the so-called quasi-masquerade scenes in Ann Radcliffe's The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794) and The Italian (1797). Quasi-masquerade scenes include the element of masking and have similar narrative functions to masquerade scenes proper in well-known eighteenth-century novels. The article focuses on their potential to exude the atmosphere of a utopian fairyland and to perform the function of a plot catalyst. It also refers to the category of the self, attempting to account for its rather surprising dissociation from the discussed quasi-masquerade scenes.
Painting the Novel: Pictorial Discourse in Eighteenth-Century English Fiction, 2018
This book focuses on the interrelationship between eighteenth-century theories of the novel and t... more This book focuses on the interrelationship between eighteenth-century theories of the novel and the art of painting. It argues that throughout the century novelists from Daniel Defoe to Ann Radcliffe referred to the visual arts, recalling specific names or works of art, but also artistic styles and conventions, in an attempt to define the generic constitution of their fictions. In this, the novelists took part in the discussion of the sister arts, not only by pointing to the affinities between them but also, more importantly, by recognising their potential to inform one another; in other words, they expressed a conviction that the idea of a new genre can be successfully rendered through meta-pictorial analogies. By tracing the uses of painting in eighteenth-century novelistic discourse, this book sheds new light on the history of the so-called "rise of the novel".
Re-Reading the Eighteenth-Century Novel adds to the dynamically developing subfield of reception ... more Re-Reading the Eighteenth-Century Novel adds to the dynamically developing subfield of reception studies within eighteenth-century studies. Lipski shows how secondary visual and literary texts live their own lives in new contexts, while being also attentive to the possible ways in which these new lives may tell us more about the source texts. To this end the book offers five case studies of how canonical novels of the eighteenth century by Daniel Defoe, Henry Fielding and Laurence Sterne came to be interpreted by readers from different historical moments. Lipski prioritises responses that may seem non-standard or even disconnected from the original, appreciating difference as a gateway to unobvious territories, as well as expressing doubts regarding readings that verge on misinterpretative appropriation. The material encompasses textual and visual testimonies of reading, including book illustration, prints and drawings, personal documents, reviews, literary texts and literary criticism. The case studies are arranged in three sections: visual transvaluations, reception in Poland and critical afterlives, and are concluded by a discussion of the most recent socio-political uses and revisions of eighteenth-century fiction in the Age of Trump (2016-2020).
This book contributes to the development of contemporary historical fiction studies with new anal... more This book contributes to the development of contemporary historical fiction studies with new analyses of neo-Georgian fiction, which, unlike neo-Victorian fiction, until now has received little critical attention. The essays included in this collection study the ways in which selected twentieth-and twenty-first-century novels recreate the Georgian period in order to view its ideologies through the lens of such modern critical theories as performativity, post-colonialism, feminism or visual theories. They also demonstrate the rich repertoire of subgenres of neo-Georgian fiction, ranging from biographical fiction, epistolary novels to magical realism. The studies of the diverse novelistic conventions used to re contextualise the Georgian reality reflect the way we see its relevance and relation to the present and trace the indebtedness of the new forms of the contemporary novel to the traditional novelistic genres.
Published in 1719, Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe is one of those extraordinary literary works whose imp... more Published in 1719, Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe is one of those extraordinary literary works whose importance lies not only in the text itself but in its persistently lively afterlife. German author Johann Gottfried Schnabel—who in 1731 penned his own island narrative—coined the term “Robinsonade” to characterize the genre bred by this classic, and today hundreds of examples can be identified worldwide. This celebratory collection of tercentenary essays testifies to the Robinsonade’s endurance, analyzing its various literary, aesthetic, philosophical, and cultural implications in historical context. Contributors trace the Robinsonade’s roots from the eighteenth century to generic affinities in later traditions, including juvenile fiction, science fiction, and apocalyptic fiction, and finally to contemporary transmedial adaptations in film, television, theater, and popular culture. Taken together, these essays convince us that the genre’s formal and ideological adaptability to changing social and cultural circumstances explains its enduring relevance to this day.
This book presents a selection of research papers dealing with the notions of travel and identity... more This book presents a selection of research papers dealing with the notions of travel and identity in Anglophone literature and culture. Collectively, the chapters ponder such notions as self and other, race, centre and periphery, thus shedding new light on a number of issues that are highly relevant in the context of the ongoing migration crisis. The contributors employ a diverse range of theoretical standpoints – from close reading to deconstruction, from historically informed approaches to linguistic analysis – and thus offer a nuanced panorama of these issues, especially from the nineteenth century onwards.
In recent decades the masquerade has enjoyed a revival in literary and cultural studies. It has b... more In recent decades the masquerade has enjoyed a revival in literary and cultural studies. It has been seen as a symptom of the irrational trends permeating the Age of Reason and as a sign of the instability, arbitrariness as well as non-essentiality of personal identity; notions testifying to affinities between the eighteenth century and our own time.
In Quest of the Self offers a new consideration not only of the masquerade as such, but also of the ways in which it was transposed into literature during the period. Here it emerges as a dominant trope governing the poetics and the ideological dimensions of selected eighteenth-century novels by Henry Fielding, Tobias Smollett and Laurence Sterne. Throughout, the book demonstrates that the travelling protagonists of the novels, metaphorically speaking, take part in the ‘masquerade of the world’, finding themselves in quest of their own selves and struggling to determine who they really are.
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Papers by Jakub Lipski
Abstract: Jakub Lipski, "THE AGE OF DISGUISE' IN PETER ACKROYD'S HISTORICAL NOVELS. "PORÓWNANIA" 19, 2016. Vol. XIX. P. 99–113. Peter Ackroyd's literary output is characterised by a clear interrelationship between fiction and popular historiography. This is best manifested in his unwavering interest in the form of the historical novel. The present article is devoted to the three novels which creatively reconstruct selected events of the eighteenth century: Hawksmoor (1985), Chatterton (1987) and The Lambs of London (2004). It is argued that the recurrent themes, characters and ideas result from Ackroyd's understanding of the century as "the Age of Disguise". The metaphor of disguise accurately renders the specificity of the time when the Delphic precept "know then thyself" was taking on a new dimension. Informed by New Historicism and the theory of the postmodern historical novel, the following article demonstrates that Ackroyd's vision of the eighteenth century corresponds with this approach to the period.
Books by Jakub Lipski
In Quest of the Self offers a new consideration not only of the
masquerade as such, but also of the ways in which it was transposed into literature during the period. Here it emerges as a dominant trope governing the poetics and the ideological dimensions of selected eighteenth-century novels by Henry Fielding, Tobias Smollett and Laurence Sterne. Throughout, the book demonstrates that the travelling protagonists of the novels, metaphorically speaking, take part in the ‘masquerade of the world’, finding themselves in quest of their own selves and struggling to determine who they really are.
Book Reviews by Jakub Lipski
Abstract: Jakub Lipski, "THE AGE OF DISGUISE' IN PETER ACKROYD'S HISTORICAL NOVELS. "PORÓWNANIA" 19, 2016. Vol. XIX. P. 99–113. Peter Ackroyd's literary output is characterised by a clear interrelationship between fiction and popular historiography. This is best manifested in his unwavering interest in the form of the historical novel. The present article is devoted to the three novels which creatively reconstruct selected events of the eighteenth century: Hawksmoor (1985), Chatterton (1987) and The Lambs of London (2004). It is argued that the recurrent themes, characters and ideas result from Ackroyd's understanding of the century as "the Age of Disguise". The metaphor of disguise accurately renders the specificity of the time when the Delphic precept "know then thyself" was taking on a new dimension. Informed by New Historicism and the theory of the postmodern historical novel, the following article demonstrates that Ackroyd's vision of the eighteenth century corresponds with this approach to the period.
In Quest of the Self offers a new consideration not only of the
masquerade as such, but also of the ways in which it was transposed into literature during the period. Here it emerges as a dominant trope governing the poetics and the ideological dimensions of selected eighteenth-century novels by Henry Fielding, Tobias Smollett and Laurence Sterne. Throughout, the book demonstrates that the travelling protagonists of the novels, metaphorically speaking, take part in the ‘masquerade of the world’, finding themselves in quest of their own selves and struggling to determine who they really are.