Literature as a Medium of Social Criticism 3001-LMKS
The lecture on social issues entitled Literature as a Medium of Social Criticism will discuss topics such as: areas of social criticism in literature: relationships (inequalities, exclusions, stereotypes), engaged literature and its varieties (presented in a historical perspective), selected critical genres of literature (including satire, farce, dystopia, tragicomic story, anti-fairy tale). Problems such as: literature as a tool for criticizing language, general ideas and norms, grotesque ironic, and parodic style in literature and their critical function will also be discussed.
The main goals of the lecture are: 1) to expand students' knowledge about the critical functions of literature in the process of diagnosing important phenomena and mechanisms of social life, 2) to show literature as a tool of emancipation, 3) to deepen understanding of the the specificity of literature and its forms as an important medium for critical reflection on social issues.
In the course of reflection on subsequent topics, Polish and foreign literary fiction will become an important exemplification material because of critical observations contained in it of a proto-sociological and proto-psychological nature, and because of unique points of view stylistically inscribed in it, the inclusion of which facilitate a more nuanced problematization of the issues discussed.
The lecture will take into account the methodological differences between reflections on social topics from a literary, sociological and psychological perspective.
Topic scope:
1. Literature as a medium of social criticism – introduction
2. Areas of social criticism in literature (I) – relationships: inequalities, exclusions, stereotypes
3. Areas of social criticism in literature (II) – language norms: general ideas, discourses
4. Engaged literature and its selected varieties (in a historical perspective)
5. Critical genres of literature (I): satire
6. Critical genres of literature (II): farce
7. Critical genres of literature (III): dystopia
8. Critical genres of literature (IV): tragicomic story
9. Critical genres of literature (V): anti-fairy tale
10. Literature and language criticism
11. Literature and criticism of norms
12. Literature and criticism of general ideas
13. Grotesque style in literature and its critical function
14. Ironic style in literature and its critical function
15. Parody and its critical function
Type of course
Mode
Course coordinators
Learning outcomes
Acquired knowledge:
- the student identifies important phenomena in social life and recognizes their complex course;
- the student understands in a deeper and critical way the specificity and dynamics of tensions arising in social relations;
- the student knows and understands the basic terms enabling discussion of social issues;
- the student understands the basic differences regarding the status of the subject and research methods on social issues within literary studies, psychology and sociology;
- the student gains awareness of the importance of knowledge and significance of literature (their forms and styles) in the process of striving to criticize important phenomena of social life.
Acquired skills:
- the student is able to discuss critically, problematize and specify in relational and contextual ways the categories of social life;
- the student is able to indicate and describe the critical genres of literature (including satire, farce, dystopia, tragicomic story, anti-fairy tale);
- he student gains the ability to discuss problems such as: engaged literaturę and literature as a tool for criticizing language, general ideas and norms;
- the student is able to identify the grotesque, ironic and parodic styles in literature and describe their critical function.
Acquired social competences:
- the student will be prepared to integrate knowledge of social phenomena from various disciplines in a methodologically thoughtful manner and and think about them critically;
- the student gains awareness of the critical functions of literature;
- the student is ready to deepen the knowledge acquired during the lecture, as well as verify and critically consider information obtained in the course of independent work.
Assessment criteria
Passing classes based on solving tasks posted on the Kampus platform during the semester and a final test checking knowledge of the issues discussed during the lecture.
Bibliography
Selected works:
Aronson Elliot, Aronson, Joshua, Człowiek istota społeczna, trans. Małgorzata Guzowska, Warsaw 2020.
Aronson Elliot, Wilson Timothy D, Akert Robin M., Psychologia społeczna, trans. Joanna Gilewicz, Poznań 2012.
Assmann Aleida, Cztery formy pamięci, in: Assmann Aleida, Między historią a pamięcią. Antologia, tłum. Sidowska Krystyna, Warsaw 2013.
Bachtin Michaił, Twórczość Franciszka Rabelais’go a kultura ludowa średniowiecza i renesansu, trans. A. i A. Goreniowie, Kraków 1975.
Balbus Stanisław, Między stylami, Kraków 1993.
Bartmiński Jerzy, Niebrzegowska-Bartmińska Stanisława, Tekstologia, Warsaw 2009.
Bergson Henri, Le rire. Essai sur la significaton du comique, Paris 1946.
Boski Paweł, Boski, Jarymowicz Maria, Malewska-Peyre Hanna, Tożsamość a odmienność kulturowa, Warsaw 1992.
Boski Paweł, Kulturowe ramy zachowań społecznych. Podręcznik psychologii międzykulturowej, Warsaw 2010.
Canclini Nestor Garcia, Hybrid Cultures. Stategies for Entering and Leaving Modernity, Minneapolis–London 1995.
Critchley Simon, On Humor, London 2002.
Escola Marc, L’humour la théorie, Décembre 2012.
Foucault Michel, Porządek dyskursu, Gdańsk 2002.
Głowiński Michał, O intertekstualności, „Pamiętnik Literacki” 1989, z. 4–5.
Hegel Georg Wilhelm Friedrich, Wykłady o estetyce, tłum. J. Grabowski i A. Landman, t. 3, Warsaw 1967.
Hutcheon Linda, A Theory of Parody: The Teachings of Twentieth-Century Art Forms, Methuen, New York– London 1985
Kant Immanuel, Krytyka władzy sądzenia, trans. J. Gałecki, Warszawa 1986.
Kasperski Edward, Między poetyką i antropologią postaci, in: Postać literacka. Teoria i historia, ed. Edward Kasperski, Brygida Pawłowska-Jądrzyk, Warsaw 1998.
Kasperski Edward, Studium metodologii, in: Kasperski Edward, Metody i metodologia (metodologia ogólna, nauki humanistyczne, wiedza o literaturze), ed. Ż. Nalewajk, Warsaw 2017.
Kasperski Edward, Tragigroteska Kafki, "Tekstualia" 2008 3 (14).
Krawczak Ewa, Literatura i społeczeństwo. Wokół problematyki socjologii literatury, Annales Universitatis Mariae Curie-Skłodowska, sectio I: Philosophia, Sociologia, vol. XXVI, 4, 2001.
Literatura zaangażowana - koncepcje, programy, realizacje. Czy potrzebna nowa definicja?,
red. Paweł Cieliczko, Ewa Ziętek-Maciejczyk, Warszawa 2006.
Nalewajk Żaneta Ironia jako alternatywa rozpaczy. Krytyka kultury w „Sprawozdaniu dla Akademii” Franza Kafki, in: „Tekstualia. Palimpsesty Literackie Artystyczne Naukowe” 2008, nr 1 (12)
Nalewajk Żaneta, Groteska i makabra. O motywie przemiany w prozie Wojciecha Kuczoka na przykładzie „Malizmu reagicznego” oraz „Szkieleciarek, in: Polska literatura najnowsza – poza kanonem, ed. P. Kierzek, Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego, Łódź 2008.
Nalewajk Żaneta, Nowe szaty Kaina. Problematyka graniczna jako perspektywa poznawcza w Obcym Alberta Camusa i Kainie. Opowiadaniu egzystencjalnym Bohumila Hrabala, „Tekstualia. Palimpsesty Literackie Artystyczne Naukowe” 2011, nr 1 (24).
Nalewajk Żaneta, Satyra polityczna i obyczajowa oraz estetyka groteski wobec fetyszy pojęciowych epoki na przykładzie wczesnej twórczości prozatorskiej Sławomira Mrożka, in: Fantazmaty i fetysze w literaturze polskiej XX (i XXI) wieku, ed. Andrzeja Stanisława Kowalczyka, Tomasza Wójcika, Andrzeja Zieniewicza, Dom Wydawniczy Elipsa, Warsaw 2011.
Nalewajk Żaneta, The Somatic Literary Grotesque: Intertextual References to Kafka in “The Metamorphosis” by Sławomir Mrożek, translated by Katarzyna Ojrzyńska in: Stories for the Future. A Between Almanach, ed. Tomasza Wiśniewskiego, Davida Malcolma, Ż. Nalewajk i M. Szuby, Gdańsk 2015.
Nalewajk Żaneta, W stronę perspektywizmu. Problematyka cielesności w prozie Brunona Schulza i Witolda Gombrowicza, Gdańsk 2010.
Nalewajk Żaneta, W stronę perspektywizmu. Problematyka cielesności w prozie Brunona Schulza i Witolda Gombrowicza, Gdańsk 2010.
Nalewajk Żaneta, Zwyczajni ludzie w czasach zmiany. Paradoksy „normalności” w „Kolonii karnej” Franza Kafki, in: Zwyczajny człowiek w niezwyczajnej sytuacji. Próba przekazania doświadczenia nieposiadającego wzoru opisywalności, ed. Hanna Gosk, Dom Wydawniczy Elipsa, Warsaw 2009.
Sartre Jean-Paul, Czym jest literatura, Warsaw 1968.
Słownik literatury polskiej XX wieku, ed. Alina Brodzka, Wrocław 1993.
Słownik rodzajów i gatunków literackich, ed. Grzegorz Gazda, Warsaw 2012.
Literary exemplification of the discussed issues will be taken from both the classics of Polish and world literature (including the works of Karol Irzykowskieg, Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz, Witold Gombrowicz, Stefan Themerson, Sławomir Mrożek, Leszek Kołakowski, Wojciech Kuczok, Franz Kafka, Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, and others).
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: