Poles of Criticism: Bereza - Komendant - Burek

About the event

80 years of "Twórczość" means, among other things, 80 years of literary criticism in Poland. Its internal diversity and grounding in the historical-ideological context are well illustrated by the example of three literary critics who, at some point in their careers, were associated with "Twórczość." Henryk Bereza, proclaiming an artistic revolution, seeking living speech in the latest prose, and rejecting all political claims of the era. Tadeusz Komendant, who pointed out the limitations of engaged poetry while emphasizing its significance, later "founding" the Polish Poetry Defense League against Zbigniew Herbert. Finally, Tomasz Burek, an unorthodox and non-partisan Marxist who considered the 1905 revolution a missed opportunity, and who, after the 1989 breakthrough, dismissed almost everything he had previously written and became one of the most important literary critics of the right wing. Even this brief characterization shows that we are dealing with polar opposite ways of writing about literature and thinking about its connections to the present. What do the critical projects of Bereza, Komendant, and Burek have to say to us today? Despite obvious differences, was there something that connected these critics? Could any of these names serve as a significant reference point for 21st-century literary criticism? 🎤 Participants in the discussion: - Marta Koronkiewicz - Artur Hellich - Łukasz Wróbel The conversation will be moderated by Łukasz Żurek. 📍 Klubojadalnia Młodsza Siostra, ul. Dobra 14/16 📅 September 10 (Wednesday), 7:00 PM Free admission Marta Koronkiewicz - literary scholar, literary critic, assistant professor at the Faculty of Philology at the University of Wrocław. She has published, among others, "And there is power of distant life in this elegy. Notes on the poems of Andrzej Sosnowski" (Wrocław 2019). She primarily focuses on modern and contemporary poetry and the history of literary criticism. Artur Hellich - lecturer at the Faculty of Polish Studies at the University of Warsaw, researcher of autobiographical literature and the history of Polish humanities, author of the book "Games with Autobiography" (Warsaw 2018) and numerous texts on contemporary Polish literature, films, and internet phenomena. Łukasz Wróbel - assistant professor at the Faculty of Polish Studies at the University of Warsaw, researcher of the mutual relations between literature, literary theory, and philosophy. Author of the book "Hylé and noesis. Three interwar concepts of applied literature" (Toruń 2013). Currently working on a dissertation dedicated to the architecture of encyclopedic genres. Łukasz Żurek - literary critic, assistant professor at the Faculty of Polish Studies at the University of Warsaw. Member of the editorial board of the literary magazine "Twórczość." Author of the book "Local Philology - Locality of the Philologist. Literary-scientific practices of Stefan Szymutko" (Warsaw 2022).