KMT 2016 nr 3 Download PDF

Barbara Kaszowska-Wandor

Scattering words. Augustine, Bernhard and the postliterary condition

Cite: Barbara Kaszowska-Wandor, Rozsypujące się słowa. Augustyn, Bernhard i pytania o postliteraturę, "Kultura - Media - Teologia", 2016( 26) nr 3, s. 75-95.

DOI: 10.21697/kmt.26.4

The essay examines the significant current of contemporary literature, which could be described as “anti-literature” or “postliterature”. The theme common to such works seems to be a radical rejection of the very sense of literary writing. It is pointed that these works programmatically accept the patronate of Thomas Bernhard. The article interrogates the idea hidden behind the negative gestures, which self-deny the individual authorial voices as well. The main argument is that such works should be read in a wider context of the philosophical and theological tradition of the negation of literature. Such reading focuses on the Latin concept of figmentum, which unexpectedly appears to be insightful for the reading of the newest literary works. The illustration of the thesis is the analysis of the novels of László Krasznahorkai and Greg Baxter.

About authors

Dr Barbara Kaszowska-Wandor

ORCID: (nieznany)