Recenzje

100 neue Erkenntnisse auf dem Gebiet der slowa-

wakischen literarischen Historiographie, doch
hat sie Hviść mit weiteren faktographischen kisch-polnischen literarischen Bezichungen des
und mit cinigen neueren biographischen Anga- in Rede stehenden Zcitalters; auf dem Gebiete
ben iiber M. Czajkowski komplettiert. der Epik stelit sie einen soliden Ausgangspunkt
Die Bedcutung der Priidominanz der idecil- fiir weitere Forschungsarbeiten dar; in zahirci-
thematischen Komponenten in Kalinćiaks chen Fragen erginzt sie die bis jetzt durch-
Rezeption des Czajkowskischen Werks doku- gefiihrten Forschungsarbeiten. Hviśćs Versuch
mentiert der Autor durch die Vergleichung um die genologische Klassifikation der slowa-
der Ausdrucksmittel der beiden Autoren. Als kischen romantischen Epik trug auch zur
Ergebnis dieser Vergleichung erscheint keincs- Klirung von Fragen der literarischen Slowa-
wegs cine Integration der cinzelnen kiinstle- kistik bei.
rischen VWorgiinge, wie dies auf den ersten In methodologischer Hinsicht erwceist sich
Blick angenommen werden kónnte. Im Ge- die Arbeit Hviśćs dadurch als wertvoli, daB
gentcil -- es resultiert daraus cine Unterschied- er die Wichtigkeit der genologischen Erfor-
lichkeit der kiinstlerischen VWorginge ihrer schung als eines integrierenden Bestandtcils
Konstruktionsmethode, wobei sich diese Unter- der komparativen Literaturforschung hervor-
schiedlichkeit aus den spezifischen Funktionen hebt, und zwar tut er dies nicht nur in bezug
in der Entwicklung der heimatlichen Literaturen auf theoretische Betrachtungen, sondern auch
ergibt. Es schcint jedoch, daB auch wenn die auf deren literaturhistorische Anwendung. Im
Bezichung Kalinćiaks zu Czajkowski noch so Rahmen der programmatischen Entwicklung
intensiv und markant war, sie allein determi- der słowakischen komparatistischen Theorie
nierte nicht die Genese der Entwicklung der stellt daher Hoviśćs Monographie in vielem
Kalinćiakschen historischen Novelle und auch sozusagen cine Anweisung dar, welche dahin-
nicht die Entwicklung der Erzahlung in der gehend instruiert, wie die bis jetzt applizierten
slowakischen Literatur. Neben den heimatli- komparatistischen Forschungsarbciten erwei-
chen Entwicklungstraditionen, die hier zweifels- tert und bereichert werden sollen.
ohne eine determinierende Rolle gespielt ha-
Dionfz Duriśin, Bratislava
ben, wird dieses Problem auf dem Hintergrund
breiterer, europiischer Zusammenhinge in-
Stanisław Lem, FANTASTYKA I FU-
terpretiert werden miissen. Indirekt iiberzeugen
TUROLOGIA, Kraków 1970, vol. 1, 292 p,,
uns diesbeziiglich auch die literaturhistorischen
vol. 2, 458 p.
Analysen in J. Noges Monographie S/ovenskd
romanticka próza (Slowakische romantische An exhaustive discussion of the 750 pages
Prosa — Bratislava 1969), und dies auch trotz of Lem's book is far beyond the scope of the
der Bestrebung des Autors, die Entwicklung present review, the more so that the problems
der Kalintiakschen Prosa vor allem auf die raised by the book in question fall into a great
eigene Tradition der slowakischen Literatur number of distinct categories. Lem himself
zuriickzufiihren zu wollen. Eine kompiexe professes to be chiefly interested in cxposing
Erórterung dieser Frage der slowakischen the prophetic qualities of fantastic literature
Literaturgeschichte setzt einen nicht nur inner-, and he tries to reach this aim by adopting at
sondern auch einen interliterarischen Kontext least three different methods of approach.
The first volume of his work is almost entirely
voraus.
Somit muB der objektive Charakter der devoted to an attempt at a structural (in what
Monographie Hviśćs sowohl auf dem litera- Łem understands to be structural) synthesis
turgeschichtlichen Gebiet als auch in seiner of certain theoreticał aspects of science fiction.
Bestrebung um eine methodologisch progressive Having suggested that the method is not
Lósung des Problems der Erforschung der satisfactory,the author examines severał
interliterarischen Beziehungen und Żusammen- problems of the modern fantastic literature
hiinge erblickt werden. In bezug auf den literatur- in England and the USA which are connected
geschichtlichen Aspekt bringt seine Arbeit with sociology. Lem presents and interprets
 Recenzje
_101
such phenomena as SF fandom, the hclpless- in relution to the shape of the empiricał warld
ness of literary criticism in discussing fan- or to the readers knowledge. Lems under-
tastic literature, the influence of the commercial- standing of fantasy disregards the internal
ly minded editors upon the publishing policy, laws of the given literary genre and he makes
the intellectually destructive interest of the most a careless use of the terms "Horror Story”,
famous writers in humbug projects and pseu- "Fantasy", "Weird Tałe”, "Science Fiction”.
dosciences (psionics), the literary ignorance Among others, this can be observed in his
and artistic impotence of "the New Wave” synthesis of R. Bradburys works (vol. 2,
in SF. He is particularly careful to stress the pp. 234- 247). While praising the author for
importance of the separation of SF from other using different conventions in a single work,
kinds of "serious" literature. he evidently takes them to be sets of historically
The second volume of the book employs unchangcable rules. Moreover, this carelessness
the more traditional methods of studying lite- is connected with an attempt to classify fan-
rature, viz. those dealing with the thematic tastic Mterature according to thematic layers
strata of SF and the related kinds of fantastic only. Almost all of the analyses (read: sum-
literature; this is accomplished by dividing maries and paraphrases) in the second volume
them into books about robots, catastrophies, of his study seem to confirm this statement.
utopian and anti-utopian projects or prophesies Conscquently, what can be observed is negli-
along with attempts to discuss such problems gence in applying various methods (structu-
as sex, superman and experiments as scen in SF. ralism, philosophy, sociology) to the study
Each part of the book brings its own conclu- of literaturc, and lack of precision in using
sions though the tenor of the whole is fairly different languages, both of the above mention-
uniform: instead of being an objective, histori- ed branches of knowledge and of cybernetics
cal or theoretical research, Lem's study is (to say nothing of the private, highly indivi-
a critique of fantastic literature. The conclu- dualized and pseudoscientific, literary language
sions following the first part of the book, how- of Lem -- the writer).
ever, are directecd more against the given Lem is known in Poland mainly as a SF
method of research (i.e. structuralism) than writer. After a volume of essays and reviews,
against the literary texts themselves. But both he published three books in recent years that
the sociological approach to SF and its thematic escape attempts at a general classification.
survey result in rcjecting the artistic values Summa technologiae is a digressive essay of
of fantastic literature as well as of intellectual some 500 pages on the future possibilities and
abilities of its authors. limitations of technołogy. Filozofia przypadku
Such conclusions are determined by the is equally thick but a far more daring excur-
ultimate aims of the study and by the analytic sion into the field of literary research, metho-
means of examination. As it has been already dology and thcory of literature. Fantastyka
observed, the book is not a historical or theore- i futurologia is the third book of, more or łess,
tical study of fantastic literature. Lem's study the same kind. Being the product of the author's
of SF and related genres has attempted to shed extensive private reading and broad interests,
light on the existing possibilities of imagining it poses itself to be a monograph addressed
future, and literature then seems to be only to the specialist. The impression is confirmed
a convenient set of examples, providing fixcd, by the titles of the chapters, at least in volume
registered and unchanging instances of parti- one. But if the reader is a literary rescarcher,
cular visions of the future worlds. It is not he wilł certainly disagree with Lem's presen-
literature, in its synchronic or diachronic tation of structuralism. It should be borne in
aspect, that interests Lem. The term "genre" mind that the so-called "French structuralists”
itself appears to be utterly meaningless to the (Todorov, Barthes, Lóvi-Strauss), though per-
author who limits the study of literature to haps the most fashionable, can hardły be the
the problems of denotation (cf. vol. 1, p. 63). most representative for the schooł and its name.
Hence there follow attempts to define fantasy Remembering even the most generał postulates
 Recenzje

of the Prague Linguistic Circle, one might doubt the interpretation depends more on the critic's
whether structuralism means a quest tor one ability to understand the text than on the real
pattern structure in the whole of literature meanings the text carries (as in the case of
(cf. vol. I, p. 197), or, whether literary research Ph. Farmer's story Son — vol. l, p. 217 — where
should aim at an intellectual or even aesthetic at least one part of the analysis is nullified
evaluation of the work in question (cf. vol. 1, by Lem's ignorance of the fact that the word
p. 196). *«ship" is always associated with "she" in English).
Besides, Lem seems to be misled by his The fascination with the quest for the great
understanding of the term "structure". It sociologicai problems in literature together
does not denote the skeleton pattern existing with the limitation of "*summary-and-theme”
in almost all the literary works. Nor can the approach (particularly evident in the second
term be taken to imply that the whole is mereły volume) more than often mar the critical
the sum of its component parts. The additional perspectives in particular analyses. The obser-
qualities in a structure seem to be created by vations upon Lem's own 7le Rerurn from the
various possible relations among the par- Stars (vol. I, pp. 193—194) may serve as the
ticular components as well as by the interaction best illustration here. The problem of the
betwcen the whole and its components. In *annihilation of evil” coułd hardly be consi-
other words, contrary to Lem's opinion, dered of major importance; what Lem calls
denying the ability of structuralism to sec a li- *a twisted romance-like story of an enamoured
terary work as a unique phenomenon, the piłot” is in fact the basic theme there and the
functions of a particular component in a given feelings of the narrator himself who is confront-
work are understood as changeable and the ed with the complicated issues of the adjuste-
analyses of them can help a researcher describe ment to the foreign culture and society consti-
and interpret the uniqueness of the work. tute the dominant element of the novel, the
The doubts, concerning both Lem's theory shape of the foreign culture being one of the
and practice, will grow in number as thc reader secondary elements of the setting. In this
fails fo find any hierarchy of structures or case the most important meanings, created by
discover their function in particular anałyses the novel, belong simply to a different sphere
in the book. The summary of plots and some of human experience than the one Lem is
pieces of information about the thematic trying to suggest.
stratum or about the inversion and conver- There is no use in multiplying the examples
sion of the motifs exhaust the possibilities which woułd point to the subjective character
of Lem's analytical procedures. of Lem's critical essays. While allowing for
The effects of the narrow theoretical under- an intelligent play of the author's mind and
standing of the term structure” are best making the study an exceptionally interesting
seen in Lem's troubles with the analysis of reading for an educated non-expert, the subjec-
the novels by van Vogt (vol. I, pp. 249—252). tivism vitiaties the reał value of the study as
Failing to use "the structural instruments” the whole.
and evidently not being conscious of his Nevertheless, it is an equally interesting and
own lack of technique and skill, the author stimulating book for a literary historian or
easily dismisses the methods with which he theoretician, particularly in those parts where
alleged himself to be familiar. The results Lem discusses the inversion or conversion
are rather depressing: Lem returns to the ways of literary motifs, the authors economic and
of subjective criticism, explaining the "aesthe- social conditions, or where he attempts to de-
tic” values of van Vogt's books by their *charm” fine fantasy, brilliantly elucidating the remarks
and the *talent” of the author. Similarly, to of Roger Cailłois's. The book is also valuable
censure J. Balłard's novels Lem is forced to re- for the great amount of bibliographic and
sign from his "structural" methods and apply biographic data.
the philosophic ones (cf. vol. 1, pp. 144—146). Lem's critical intuition should be mentioned
In both examples (and in many others, it seems) here as well. Though łacking in the technique
 Recenzje 103

and operational skill while handling the re- la problóćmatique de la prose artistique. Dans
searcher's instruments, Lem can often fasci- une certaine mesure cependant, ces problćmes
nate the reader with his ingenuous insight ont póćnćtrć la sćmantique logique, la thóorie
into literary phenomena (cf. the functions de la dćduction dans une linguistique moderne
ot conventions in R. Bradburys works or s'exprimant le plus souvent a I'aide de la mćtho-
the process of decoding literature by the reader, de des formules et des modeles logistiques.
e.g. vol. 2, pp. 254—263). His spontaneous Les travaux des Savants russes, tcheques,
intellectual response to literature exerts an anglo-saxons, polonais etc. du domaine de
enormous influence upon the reader; the latter, la sćmantique logique ont dćveloppć les fon-
even when at variance with the author's sta- dements linguistiques modernes qui, a leur
tements, can stilł appreciate the critique itself. tour, ont jetć les bases des recherches dans le
In other words, the observations in particular domaine de la textologie. Les liens qui unissent
analyses seem often sound, though neither ła logique mathćmatique, la sćmantique lo-
complete nor well substantiated. gique et la philosophie contemporaine sont
With alł the drawbacks and merits of Fan- gónćralement connus. Cela *cst visible dans
tastyka i futurologia in mind, one may perhaps lextension de la problćmatique comme dans
hope that a critical, solicitous and accurate la mćthode des travaux rćunis dans le volume
reading of Lem's study may become a long- de recherches englobćes par un titre commun —
awaited incentive for historians of literature Tekstologia (Textologie). Ces travaux concernent
to write a full-size, historical and theoretical principalement des essais de dćfinir les termes
monograph on SF or fantasy in Great Britain de «texte cohćrent» (tekst spójny) et de «iexte
and the USA. incohćrent» (tekst niespójny), et de dófinir
certains phóćnomenes directement ou mćtho-
Andrzej Zgorzelski, Lublin
dologiquement lićs 4 ces termes.
Nous trouvons des considćrations au sujet
O SPÓJNOŚCITEKSTU (DE LA COHE- de la cohćrence du texte dans Iarticle clair
RENCE DU TEXTE), Wrocław — Warszawa —
et concis de Nina Lcontieva ainsi que das le
Kraków 1971, 205 pp. travail d'lrena Bellert (O pewnym warunku
Les traitćs et les ćtudes contenus dans I'ou- spójności tekstu — A propos d'une certaine
vrage que nous presentons ici font penser condition de la cohćrence du texte), dans celui
indirectement aux rósultatis obtenus par la d'Olgierd Wojtasiewicz (O pewnej interpretacji
cćlebre ćcole logistique połonaise des annćes pojęcia spójności tekstu — A propos d'une
vingt. On I'appelait autrement ćcole lćopolo- certaine interprótation de la notion de cohe-
varsovienne, car un de ses fondateurs les rence du texte), dans celui d'Andrzej Trybulec
plus ćminents, Jan Łukasiewicz, fut d'abord (Topologiczna definicja spójności tekstu — Defi-
professeur 4 IUniversitć de Lóopol avant de nition topologique de ła cohćrence du texte),
letre 4 Varsovie. «Il se consacrait A ce qu'on celui de Zygmunt Saloni (Definicja spójności
appelait le compte, le calcul des phrases (a la tekstu — Dóefmition de la cohćrence du texte),
thćorie de la dóduction) [...]. Il a introduit et celui de Maria Renata Mayenowa (Spójność
la symbolique sans parenthćses du compte tekstu a postawa odbiorcy — La cohćrence
des phrases, appelće en Occident symboli- du texte et Datitude du rćceptcur). Les tra-
que polonaise [notation logiquej»". vaux de Vilem Mathesius, un des pionniers de
Cette remarque liminaire a pour but de Fćcole de Prague (O rak zwanym aktualnym
rappeler les problemes lićs 4 la linguistique rozczłonkowaniu zdania — A propos de Tarticu-
moderne, bien que ce ne soient pas ces pro- łation dite articulation actuelle de la phrase),
bićmes linguistiques qui aient en vćritć intć- de Jelena PaduŻeva (O strukturze akapitu —
ressć le grand savant polonais, ni non plus A propos de la structure du paragraphe), d'Anna
Wierzbicka (Metratekst w tekście -—-Le mć-
: Wielka encyklopedia powszechna, PWN, tatexte dans le texte), de Krystyna Pisarkowa
vol. 6, p. 726. (Uwagi o dystrybucji i zakresie funkcji polskiego