Sławomir Kozioł | University of Rzeszów (original) (raw)
Address: Rzeszów, Subcarpathian Voivodeship, Poland
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Papers by Sławomir Kozioł
The essay argues that the Crakers—genetically modified human beings appearing in Margaret Atwood’... more The essay argues that the Crakers—genetically modified human beings appearing in Margaret Atwood’s MaddAddam trilogy—should be seen not only as a result of techno-scientific brilliance and power struggle, but also as a product of artistic creativity. Starting with close reading of several passages which indirectly but effectively indicate that the Crakers should be regarded as a form of art, the essay then moves on to the consideration of probable predecessors of the kind of artistic creativity that the Crakers represent. One model for Crake’s artistic creation of human beings is seen in the avant-garde movements of the first half of the twentieth century which tried to combine art, technology and politics to create the New Man. The essay also focuses on the trilogy’s references to the more recent transgenic art, arguing that Crake’s artistic activity should be seen in the light of the criticism leveled nowadays at this form of art. Finally, Crake’s creative act is shown in the context of the classic works of literature which deal with a similar theme, namely Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and The Island of Doctor Moreau by H. G. Wells.
The article analyses the way in which Virginia Woolf shows the importance of the visual in the so... more The article analyses the way in which Virginia Woolf shows the importance of the visual in the social space of London in the third decade of the 20th century, which she represents in her novel Mrs Dalloway. The analysis draws on the terminology and theory developed by Henri Lefebvre, who claims in The Production of Space that one of the main characteristics of the social space of modern society is the logic of visualization. According to Lefebvre, this logic has two aspects: metaphoric, which treats writing and visual signs in general as focal points of human life, and metonymic, which transforms the visible into totality. The article argues that Woolf shows in her novel how the logic of visualization in both its aspects is used as a mechanism helping to implant proper models and values in members of society and how it is responsible for the emptiness of human life which is limited to its surface value.
Books by Sławomir Kozioł
Drawing primarily on the theory of social space developed by Henri Lefebvre, the book argues that... more Drawing primarily on the theory of social space developed by Henri Lefebvre, the book argues that in the four analyzed novels (E. M. Forster’s Howards End, V. Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway, E. Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited and A. Wilson’s Late Call) the represented social space is polarized: the abstract space of the state, whether built on money or reflecting technocratic visions of society, is contrasted with the absolute space of home – an intimate space created by its inhabitants, reflecting their own personal mythologies and spiritual values.
(For copyright reasons I provide here only the first chapter of the book.)
The essay argues that the Crakers—genetically modified human beings appearing in Margaret Atwood’... more The essay argues that the Crakers—genetically modified human beings appearing in Margaret Atwood’s MaddAddam trilogy—should be seen not only as a result of techno-scientific brilliance and power struggle, but also as a product of artistic creativity. Starting with close reading of several passages which indirectly but effectively indicate that the Crakers should be regarded as a form of art, the essay then moves on to the consideration of probable predecessors of the kind of artistic creativity that the Crakers represent. One model for Crake’s artistic creation of human beings is seen in the avant-garde movements of the first half of the twentieth century which tried to combine art, technology and politics to create the New Man. The essay also focuses on the trilogy’s references to the more recent transgenic art, arguing that Crake’s artistic activity should be seen in the light of the criticism leveled nowadays at this form of art. Finally, Crake’s creative act is shown in the context of the classic works of literature which deal with a similar theme, namely Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and The Island of Doctor Moreau by H. G. Wells.
The article analyses the way in which Virginia Woolf shows the importance of the visual in the so... more The article analyses the way in which Virginia Woolf shows the importance of the visual in the social space of London in the third decade of the 20th century, which she represents in her novel Mrs Dalloway. The analysis draws on the terminology and theory developed by Henri Lefebvre, who claims in The Production of Space that one of the main characteristics of the social space of modern society is the logic of visualization. According to Lefebvre, this logic has two aspects: metaphoric, which treats writing and visual signs in general as focal points of human life, and metonymic, which transforms the visible into totality. The article argues that Woolf shows in her novel how the logic of visualization in both its aspects is used as a mechanism helping to implant proper models and values in members of society and how it is responsible for the emptiness of human life which is limited to its surface value.
Drawing primarily on the theory of social space developed by Henri Lefebvre, the book argues that... more Drawing primarily on the theory of social space developed by Henri Lefebvre, the book argues that in the four analyzed novels (E. M. Forster’s Howards End, V. Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway, E. Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited and A. Wilson’s Late Call) the represented social space is polarized: the abstract space of the state, whether built on money or reflecting technocratic visions of society, is contrasted with the absolute space of home – an intimate space created by its inhabitants, reflecting their own personal mythologies and spiritual values.
(For copyright reasons I provide here only the first chapter of the book.)