Geopoetics

The tradition of generous endowments for Almae Matris is as old as university itself. Some donations can be admired at the Jagiellonian University Museum. One of the insignia of the University’s authorities has very interesting origins. The rector’s chain of 1900 was donated by graduates of the “former Universität Dorpat” (currently University of Tartu) during the official celebration of the 500th anniversary of reinstatement of the Jagiellonian University. The concept of the chain and the interesting iconography originated from the Polish-Livonian historiographer Gustaw Manteuffel. So far, the history of this artefact has not been explored in depth. In the 19th century Galicia was perceived as the refuge of Polishness and Kraków was the most important sanctuary of national heritage. Poles from Universität Dorpat felt a bond with the Polish community and the chain was a symbol to express their patriotism. The donation from Dorpat delegation included several elements: tributary letter (now lost), tissue (never found) covering the masterpiece box containing the chain, and then the main gift itself: the chain. Gustaw Manteuffel left a symbolic “signature” on this work. At Princes Czartoryski Library in Kraków, the Author has found previously unknown correspondence between Manteuffel and Lubomir Gadon – parts of it concern creation of the chain.

This paper undertakes a spatial reading of the Middle Dutch religious epic poem Beatrijs by focusing on how representations of physical spaces and places in the text interact with instances of prayer and miracles. A vantage-point for this interpretation is Aron Gurevich’s adaptation of Mikhail Bakhtins’ concept of the chronotope. The function of topography in Beatrijs is additionally investigated using the interpretative practice of geopoetics to determine that physical space is not merely a passive backdrop but can be regarded as an actor of the events unfolding in the plot, actively impacting the protagonists’ behaviour and psychological condition.

Artykuł prezentuje zbiór teoretycznych przymiarek do definicji i wskazania ram znaczeniowych miejsca urodzenia jako możliwej kategorii kulturowej i analitycznej. Autorka odwołuje się do konotacji dwóch członów tej kategorii – miejsca oraz aktu urodzenia – a ponadto sytuuje ją w kręgu pojęć z zakresu geopoetyki, takich jak: mała ojczyzna, okolica, miejsce antropologiczne, rodzinne strony, miejsce autobiograficzne czy matecznik. Celem artykułu jest wskazanie różnych sposobów i kontekstów rozumienia miejsca urodzenia oraz sondowanie potencjału symbolicznego i znaczeniowego miejsca urodzenia w projektowaniu tożsamości.

Este trabalho pretende fazer uma reflexão teórica sobre um poema do livro As impurezas do branco publicado em 1973 quando Carlos Drummond de Andrade (1902-1987) expressa de forma sensível a noção do termo paisagem. Trata-se do poema "Paisagem: como se faz". A noção de paisagem se se presenta,comumente,naquilo que vemos. Não obstante a esta ideia, a noção de paisagem convoca ao diálogo uma multiplicidade de campos de saberes cujas orientações remetem à pintura renascentista, aos olhares atentos dos viajantes e à sensibilidade dos poetas. Assim, se a contemplação estética exige profundo exercício do olhar, de certo ela requer também a atividade de construir e de desconstruir formas e movimentos do mundo. Não há inércia no exercício do olhar, mas transformação e deslocamento no, e do, mundo. Por vezes, essa contemplação estética conduz a uma atividade de pensamento interna, e/ou externa, outras vezes ainda reconhece a indistinção entre dimensões como o indivíduo e a sociedade; como a razão e a emoção. Contemplar a paisagem é mais do que apenas contemplar. Trata-se de ver e de olhar. De sentir, perceber e descrever a maneira como certas imagens nos afetam, ou como nós as afetamos. Nesse diálogo constante, a paisagem e a imagem encontram um lugar comum, uma sintonia sobre seus significados. Por exemplo, a noção de País enquanto experiência de escala nacional do espaço, proposta por Yi Fu Tuan (2013), versa para uma noção de paisagem que refere-se à valorização da memória social na sucessão dos tempos. Assim, país, paisagem e viagem se articulam enquanto espaço de interpretação das lacunas do sujeito no processo de significação de um acontecimento. Embora a paisagem surja primordialmente como tema do poema que ora nos debruçamos, cabe lembrar que no seu conceito se inscrevem fronteiras, limites, referências e transgressões que configuram alternativas às formas de significados 'presentes' em diferentes espaços/tempos. A paisagem é movente e constrói um significado a partir de valores e de sentido. Nos contextos históricos aqui traçados, observamos os significados de elementos e a reconstrução ampla destes significados em duas perspectivas que se relacionam: a primeira entre os elementos vivenciados por Drummond à época da ditadura militar no Brasil (1964) como tempo presente e a outra como memória da ditadura do Estado Novo, ou seja, resignificando o espaço a partir da memória.

This article is an exploratory essay that passes through geopoetic thoughts on the subject of writing the earth. I seek out to explore the terrifying possibility that language could be related to passive, non-human entities, such as the vegetative beings of wheat, oat and rice.

Written language is agrarian: In order to illuminate this heritage, I introduce the boustrophedon, the turning of the ox, as a relation between the page and the field. The boustrophedon is a way of writing by furrows that perceives the relation between agriculture and writing as a primordial event in posthuman culture.

Along this line, within this furrow, I show how a concept of literacy as domestication follow from a writing by furrows, vis-à-vis a junction between the field and the house. Literacy is to be understood as domestication, as it co-evolved with the eight Neolithic founder crops (wheat, pea, lentil, flax, etc.) through the sedentarized house as a dwelling place.

The gathering, collecting and cultivation of crops constituted a sensitive and spiritual reading of the world, thereby being an exterior source of our literary heritage. The gathering in the field is to be interpreted orthographically; as the conventions or dispositive of the written page; while the dwelling in the house constitutes the sum of that which lies behind or beneath written language as a mode of agrilogistical existence.

Przedmiotem niniejszego artykułu jest próba odczytania młodzieńczego opowiadania Zygmunta Krasińskiego „Pan Trzech Pagórków” z perspektywy narządzi badawczych wypracowanych na gruncie zwrotu topograficznego i geopoetyki. W centrum moich zainteresowań znajduje się zagadnienie biograficznego doświadczenia Opinogóry – rozumianej jako „miejsce autobiograficzne” Zygmunta Krasińskiego – zapisane w metatekstowych ramach utworu, „na marginesie” jego właściwej treści (historii prasłowiańskiego wodza Opina). Odczytanie „Pana Trzech Pagórków” jako dzieła  będącego nie tylko – jak zakłada większość istniejących opracowań – projekcją wyobraźniowych fantazmatów, ale również zapisem wieloaspektowego doświadczenia rodzimej przestrzeni geograficznej poety, pozwala, jak sądzę, na ukazanie złożonego stosunku Krasińskiego do Opinogóry, a tym samym na głębsze zrozumienie jego młodzieńczej biografii i twórczości literackiej.

This paper analyses Andrzej Stasiuk’s concept of ‘Middle Europe’ in his texts from the 1990s (Dziennik okrętowy, Dukla, Opowieści galicyjskie) as they were part of a public discourse which has defined Poland`s transition after 1989. Drawing on the theoretical concept of geopoetics, this analysis demonstrates how Stasiuk’s work oscillates between East and West and creates his own ‘Middle Europe’ by displaying and utilizing ideas from the mythological concepts of Austrian Galicia (Habsburg Empire), Kresy and Sarmatia. Stasiuk’s ‘Middle Europe’ represents an attempt to overcome the East/West opposition and he relies on the cultural, collective heritage of Galicia, Kresy and Sarmatia. Stasiuk achieves this by connecting these ideas in his private geography, which features imaginary flashbacks to personal memories. Stasiuk’s ‘Middle Europe’ is an empty space which becomes a microcosm for his own imaginations and re-construction.

Following our first conference, “Thinking Literature and Cinema Through Visual Culture” (Maison de la recherche de la Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris, April 12-14, 2018), we wish to continue our reflections by exploring the question of the relations between cinema and literature through the prism of space.
Space is one of the aspects of visual culture within  which literature and cinema meet, as we observed during our 2018 conference: common or distinct imaginaries of space ; filmed spaces,  gestures and writings; haptic forms; the  relationship between the apparatus (dispositif), displacements and written or film adaptations, etc.

In the wake of Michel Collot’s concept of “literary geography,” we would like to explore the problematics of space by distinguishing three approaches.
1) The “geography” of literary and cinematic  creation
2) Geocriticism
3) Geopoetics.