The (Un)forgotten Charm of Masterpieces Anonim, Barańczak, Camus…

This is a selection of papers from the collected works published in Częstochowa, Katowice, Lublin, Warszawa, and volumes dedicated to eminent historians of Polish and world literatures, librarians, creators of culture (in Poland and Lithuania), poets, and social-cultural activists. None of these texts are reprints of their first editions. All of them have been revised for the new publication and supplemented with an updated bibliography and new, extensive fragments. In the Przedsłowie [Foreword], the author distances himself from Latinocentric studies because the formula “all roads lead to Rome” is an oversimplification; it correlates more with the first chapters of the book and less so with the ones that follow. It is only a signpost, a trace of the masterpieces being rooted in classical literature. However, we only see what we can perceive. When we look more closely, we usually find out that “all roads lead to Rome”, albeit some lead to Athens. Chapter 1 „Arma virumque cano…”. niepowtarzalny urok pierwszych zdań arcydzieł. Potocki (Jan), Ballard, Camus, Nabokov, Tołstoj (Lew) [“Arma virumque cano…’: The Unique Charm of the First Sentences of Masterpieces. Potocki (Jan), Ballard, Camus, Nabokov, Tolstoy (Leo)] offers a view that the sentences we remembered as the first sentences of masterpieces (as our predecessors taught us) were rarely the true opening sentences of those works. A closer look at the text leads to a re-interpretation and each consecutive reading is a discovery of new meanings. Chapter 2 Wyrwane z kontekstu. O obyczaju nadawania nowych znaczeń zaledwie fragmentom cudzych myśli. Rekonesans nieco obszerniejszy [Out of Context: On the Custom of Assigning New Meanings to Someone Else’s Ideas: A Slightly Broader Reconnaissance] shows that among next generations, there is a tendency to simplify readings and retain fragmented sentences; sometimes a few hexameters remain in the common memory as half of a verse, whose interpretation is far from the original. The authors of complete thoughts presumably would not have put their names on these pieces. Chapter 3 Afraniusz i Pedan – mistrzowie niesubordynacji. Bułhakow versus Feuchtwanger [Afranius and Pedan – Masters of Insubordination: Bulgakov versus Feuchtwanger] offers a comparative study of two symmetrical composition techniques, which appeared independently of each other and almost simultaneously, in The Master and Margherita and The Jewish War. It is commonly assumed that eager subordinates follow their superiors’ orders with accuracy. Carrying them out à rebours in terms of the official wording, emphatically expressed by the one giving orders, sometimes turns out to be the highest form of obedience and allegiance on the part of the subordinate. Disobedience goes unpunished when it has advantages for the one giving the orders and relieves them of responsibility. (...