Maros Buday

This paper focuses on the postmodernist conceits embodied in Stephen Kings

postmodern epic called The Dark Tower series. In his septimology, King
examines the very foundation of literary fiction as well as criticism by combining
metafiction, intertextuality and contemporary scientific multiple-worlds theory
into a postmodernist chaos of information. King essentially presents a universal
model which is composed of purely symbolic composites that encompass the four
basic pillars of creating a written text, i.e. the author, extralinguistic reality,
fictional universe, and language as a medium of written discourse. Furthermore,
by dividing intertextuality into its intrinsic and extrinsic form, in combination with
the multiple-worlds theory, King renders literary criticism itself mute. He does so
via the element of collapsing fictional universes, i.e. an act he positions in parallel
with the flattening of the worlds of high and low culture, thus creating a vision of
culture which functions on the principles of equality.
Key words:
Stephen King, The Dark Tower series, Metafiction, Intrinsic intertextuality,
Extrinsic intertextuality, Multiple-worlds theory
About the author:
Mgr. Maro Buday is a PhD. candidate at the University of Preov, Institute of
British and American studies, Slovakia. He graduated the program entitled
Teacher Training in English Language and Literature and Philosophy at the same
university . His current field of research situates around postmodernist literature
as well as the relation between cosmology and literature. He is currently writing
his dissertation thesis entitled The Concept of Multiverse and Postmodernist
Literature

History and Fiction: Ngg wa Thiong'os Vision

Simona Hevesiova, PhD.
Dept. of English and American Studies
Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra
Slovakia
shevesiova@ukf.sk
Since postcolonial writinghas always been rooted in the historical process of
colonization, the narratives, especially in the early stages of postcolonial literature, borean
imprint of the historical development in the colonies. With local writers often addressing the
pressing historical and political issues of that time and authorsbeing seen as beacons,
soothsayers, and seers of political movements (Boehmer), literature became implicated in the
1

turmoil of public happenings.The paper seeks to examine the relation between history and
fiction as presented inNgg wa Thiong'os early writing. Thiong'o, who is known for his
zealous political activism, sees literature not only as a medium which reflects social reality
but rather as a creative process that is conditioned by historical social forces and pressures.
The paper challenges the concept of fiction as representation of historybut also ruminates
upon the role of Thiong'os writingwithinthe context of Kenyan historiography.

Micha MOLISKI
Uniwersytet Opolski
michalmolinski@wp.pl
TONI MORRISONS BELOVED: INFANTICIDE AND MOTHERLY LOVE REDEFINED
Abstract: Love has always been a feeling people throughout the world have desired. If the need to be
loved is fulfilled, it is the reason for ones contentment and well-being. On the other hand, a person
deprived of love is likely to abandon hope of happiness and become miserable. Human beings have an
intuitive idea of love. Nevertheless, it would be very difficult to create a coherent definition of the
term that would reflect the multitude of its forms. Toni Morrisons Beloved describes one of its
variations. The novel was inspired by the life of Margaret Garner a slave and a desperate mother
who killed her daughter to protect her from the ordeal of slavery. The seemingly inhuman action was
in fact an act of motherly instincts which were altered by the years of enslavement. The novel
acquaints the readers with a new definition of love that was coined by lashes and distress in an
environment where emotions caused only suffering. Beloved forces the reader to reconsider the
essence of love and ponder on the deed performed by a loving mother in order to save her child from
the cruelties of slavery.
Key words: love, infanticide, slavery, motherhood, memory

Jn Halek
PhD candidate at University of Pavol Jozef afrik in Koice and Universit Paris Diderot Paris 7
Abstract:
The aim of my paper is to investigate the media coverage afforded to the notions of
social class, aspiration, mobility, privilege and (in)equality in British quality dailies. This
research focuses on the coverage of Britains social classes between 2007 and 2013 and looks
comparatively at two broadsheet newspapers, The Guardian and The Times, as well as their
Sunday editions, in order to elucidate both the ideological and metaphorical representation of
social classes in the editorials and opinion columns of these two quality British newspapers.
The article addresses the issues of the differences between corpus-based v. corpus-driven
approach, employing methodology inspired by Baker (2004; 2006) and a combination of
corpus-based and CDA approaches. My ongoing research shows the ambivalence of the
2

notion of class, revealing there are between five and six meanings of the concept of class and
how the post-industrial situation has made the concept even fuzzier. I am going to show from
corpus evidence that the borders between the various conceptions of class have blurred so
much that neither sets of papers endorse a specific conception of class. Whatever stood for
class (or class war) has now shifted to debates about the end of social mobility and the
reinstallment of grammar schools.

Marlena Marciniak
Opole University

TAMING OF THE RAKE: FROM A MAN ABOUT TOWN TO A MAN AT

HOME IN THE TENANT OF WILDFELL HALL.

In Character, one of his most influential books, Samuel Smiles

(1889:45) aptly encapsulates the essence of Victorian ideals of masculinity
by stating that Home makes the man. Anne Brontseems to advocate a
similar idea of domestic-oriented masculinity in her novel The Tenant of
Wildfell Hall (1848), which depicts the process of moral redemption of four
male characters: Lord Lowborough, Ralph Hattersley, Gilbert Markham and
young Arthur Huntingdon. Thus the motif of internal metamorphosis of
men who learn to respect female guidance, appreciate family bliss and
pursue self-restraint becomes one of the dominant themes of the text.
According toLisa Surridge (2005:73), the novel constitutes an illustrative
example of the shift from the image of a dissolute, self-indulgent man,
disseminated among aristocracy under Regency and George IV to the
picture of a self-disciplined, prudent Victorian middle-class man. The
Tenant of Wildfell Hall demonstrates that the fight against home violence
and spousal maltreatment commenced in the Victorian period should
begin with reorientation of thinking about manliness and gender relations,
as human mentality tends to be more resistant to changes than the legal
system.

Agnieszka KALLAUS
akallaus@univ.rzeszow.pl
Uniwersytet Rzeszowski

A POET IN SEARCH OF A DRAMATIC IMAGE:

W.B. YEATSS THEATRE IN VIEW OF THE MODERN EXPERIMENT
Abstract:

An authority on drama and theatre, Eric Bentley (2008:325), notes that

W.B. Yeats, 1865-1939, was so great a poet that his contributions to the
theatre tend to be overlooked. Yet he should rank as one of the few
theatre managers of our century whose management has had the
slightest cultural value. The subject of this paper is W.B. Yeatss work as a
director and manager of the Abbey Theatre, as well as the legacy of his
theories on theatre. Yeatss activity as a theatre reformer has long been
undervalued by the critics whose opinions had a crucial impact on the
theatre artists. Therefore, the poets dramatic works have long been
ignored as lacking theatrical qualities. It was only the avant garde theatre
of the 1960s and 1970s, with its concepts of ritual drama and innovative
actor training methods, that enabled modern directors to see the potential
for stage production in Yeatss plays. This paper aims at showing the
influence of W.B. Yeatss theories on the modern theatrical experiment by
Richard Schechner, Peter Brook, Robert Wilson and Jerzy Grotowski. The
purpose of the argument is to reassess the value of Yeatss work as a
dramatist and theatre reformer in view of the above-mentioned modern
experiment.

MagorzataWarcha
UniwersytetRzeszowski
THE ROLE OF BUDDHIST PHILOSOPHY IN ALDOUS HUXLEYS ISLAND
Abstract: Aldous Huxleys last novel, Island, presents a utopian, peaceful society of Pala, a secluded
island on the Pacific Ocean. Selected principles of Mahayana Buddhism constitute the cornerstone of
Palas political, educational and agricultural systems and serve as the main source of moral values for
its inhabitants. By introducing characters who represent both Palas and western mentality, the author
presents the clash of western and eastern cultures, and as a result, unmasks the destructiveness of
western greed, materialism and militarism. Moreover, the novel constitutes a reflection upon the
4

spiritual and intellectual benefits of Buddhism, as it presents the peaceful coexistence of the
inhabitants of Pala, pursuit of self-improvement, knowledge and spiritual enlightenment. The
following paper aims to confront the views and attitudes of characters who represent the East and the
West as well as to trace Buddhist motifs in Huxleys novel in order to examine their role both in all
aspects of Palas cultureand in the philosophical message of Island.
Key words: Aldous Huxley, Island, Mahayana Buddhism, Buddhism, utopia

The Grotesque in Jane Gardams God on the Rocks.

Soa nircov
Pavol Jozef afrik University
Abstract
The growing importance of the grotesque in contemporary British fiction has been associated
with the rising voices of the marginalized subjects, female, postcolonial, working-class, who
use carnival-grotesque texts to explore the symbolic process of the power relationship
between the margin and the centre (Allen 2008, 153). As I have discussed elsewhere
(nircov 2012, 2010), feminist authors, like Angela Carter, Jeanette Winterson, or Fay
Weldon, often employ the grotesque in their radical critique of patriarchy aimed at the
deconstruction of gender stereotypes. In this paper I focus on the appropriation of the
grotesque by Jane Gardam, who represents a quieter voice in British literature and whose
work cannot be so readily associated with feminist politics. Drawing on Mikhail Bakhtins
theory of the carnivalesque (Bakhtin 1984) and Julia Kristevas theory of the abject (Kristeva
1982), the paper examines one of Jane Gardams coming-of-age narratives, God on the Rocks
(1978), to claim that the experience with the grotesque plays a crucial role in the construction
of the child protagonists feminine identity.
References:
Allen, Nicola. Marginality in the Contemporary British Novel. London: Continuum, 2008.
Bakhtin, Mikhail. Rabelais and His World. Trans. Hlne Iswolsky. Bloomington: Indiana
University P, 1984. Print.
Kristeva, Julia. Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection. Trans. Leon S. Roudiez. New York:
Columbia UP, 1982. Print.
nircov, Soa. Feminist Aspects of Angela Carter's Grotesque. Koice : Pavol Jozef afrik
University in Koice, 2012.
-------------------. The Female Grotesque in Works by Fay Weldon, Jeanette Winterson and
Angela Carter. In: Ostrava Journal of English Philology. - ISSN 1803-8174. - Vol. 2, no. 2
(2010), s. 61-71.

ukasz Wilk
Catholic University of Lublin, Poland
drdemagol@gmail.com or wilkl.kul@gmail.com
Dishonored and steampunk: On the misuse of genre labels
While designing the universe of their 2012s game, Dishonored, Arkane Studios sought to escape the
cliches of the steampunk genre. Yet, despite their efforts to create a unique fantasy world with retrofuturistic stylings, the online media still categorized Dishonored as an example of a steampunk work.
The aim of this article is to delineate the defining features of steampunk as a genre, its origins and the
philosophy behind it in order to show that games such as Dishonored are in fact far from steampunk,
despite certain similarities in portrayal of their respective game worlds, such as influences drawn from
the Victorian era and the Industrial Revolution.
The main defining feature of the steampunk genre is steam-based technology, which is absent in
Dishonored. Instead the game depicts a dark fantasy world where technology is fueled by whale oil,
which makes it closer to dieselpunk and teslapunk. Many reviewers point out obvious Victorian
stylistics, but erroneously consider it steampunks defining quality which results in mislabelling
certain works while ignoring the fact that they lack one crucial component steam.

Katarzyna STRZYOWSKA
NKJO Rzeszw
katarzynastrzyzowska@gmail.com

GRUB STREET LITERARY ACTIVITY IN 18TH CENTURY LONDON. A FLAW OR

AN ASSET OF AUGUSTAN LITERATURE?
Abstract
The canons of taste in 18th century English literature are foremost associated with
careful metrics, impeccable style and tone, as more accurately framed in, An Essay on
Criticism, by Alexander Pope. Clarity, coherence and gentlemanliness among others, allowed
such literature to express truth. Any attempts to deviate from the set standards, were
immediately discredited by the literary elite and labelled as bad writing. It was mainly Grub
Street literary productions, which symbolically came to represent the growing opposition to
polite and ordered literature. Its pejorative associations obscured its meaning and impact on
the transformation of the literary environment of early 18 th century England. The paper is to
examine the real value of the Grub Street writing and answer the question whether its literary
activity was of no value, as many tended to claim, or perhaps its prolific output, often with
innovative techniques, did not degrade the Augustan literature, but rather contributed to it.

Key words: 18th century, London, literature, Grub Street, Augustan aesthetics, hack writing,
publishers, commerce
6

Izabela Bierowiec
Year I of PhD Studies in Literature at the University of Rzeszw
An English outsider in England the struggles of a second-generation assimilationist
presented in Hanif Kureishiss novel The Buddha of Suburbia.
First published in 1990, Kureishis The Buddha of Suburbia presents the processes of
acculturation as well as assimilation from a slightly different perspective that may be found in
similar British Asian novels. The aim of this paper is to conduct a detailed analysis of the
mentioned process of accommodation observed in the personage of Karim Amir, the
protagonist of Kureishis debut novel who undergoes a reverse process of assimilation.
Despite being of half-Indian descent as well as acquiring an outside appearance and conduct
typical for a 1970s British youth, Kamir is constantly denied the status of an English citizen.
Although Amir thinks of himself as belonging to the London suburban youth, he is expected
to behave in the same way as all Indian immigrants who compromise the segment of the
Black population in the UK. As a result, the young man is confronted with numerous
stereotypical expectations concerning his seemingly Indian heritage and cultural identity,
particularly the language he speaks, customs, lifestyle or even believes. Consequently, Karim,
the unacknowledged English figure, strives to become accustomed to the life of an alien
which inseparably is connected with the processes of assimilation and acculturation, however
experienced backwards.

dr Agata Buda
Faculty of Philology and Pedagogy
Kazimierz PulaskiUniversity of Technology and Humanities
Radom
ul. Chrobrego 31
Poland

GOTHIC SPACE IN THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY

BY OSCAR WILDE
7

The articlecovers the idea of time and space in the context of varioustypes of time-space
relations according to MikhailBakhtin.Gothicconstitutes one of the most crucialspaces in the
novel by Oscar Wilde. It ispresented on variouslevels and itcan be easilycategorized as a
Gothicchronotope. It refersmainly to the pictureitself, as well as to the Dorianshouse and
hischaracter. Within the Gothicspace one maydistinguishseveralmotifs, amongwhich
a motif of lightis the most frequent and influential. Gothicspacebecomes in the novel
a microcosm of humanmisery, undergoing the process of narrowing; the places the hero
visitsreflecthismentalstate. In otherwords, the figure of Dorian Gray becomes a
metaphoricalrepresentation of Gothic.

Ania Dziama
Jewish Religious Identity in Chaim Potok's novels

Chaim Potok was a scholar, rabbi, and a novelist who wrote about the conflict between
Judaism and the secular world and the discord within Judaism. His novels frequently
portrayed observant Jewish communities and families in a loving and respectful way, opening
a window onto the insular Jewish American world. The strength of his writing is in his ability
to dramatize universal question of faith, commitment and identity among, mostly, Americans
of Jewish roots. The article aims to discuss religious conflicts in Potoks The Chosen, The
Promise and In the Beginnings.
Key words: Hasidism, Orthodox Judaism, rabbis, Zionism, American family
Barbara NIEDZIELA
Uniwersytet Rzeszowski
Ordinary men, ordinary women? The representation of gender in television.
Abstract: The paper examines the portrayal of gender-typed behaviours in television. It is particularly
concerned with the view that there seems to be a relation between watching television and holding
stereotypical beliefs about gender roles (Helgeson, 2012:161)1. The theoretical framework employs
feminist perspectives and terms associated with developmental psychology, in particular social
learning theory with its reliance on modeling and reinforcement as two ways of learning, also in the
context of gender-role development. The analysis is based on such television comedy shows as
According to Jim (2001-2009) and Modern Family (2009-), both of which are centered around family
life, as well as Little Britain series (2003-2006). The primary object of investigation is to indicate the
extent to which television contributes to the perpetuation or subversion of gender stereotypes in malefemale relationships. Also, internet comments posted as responses to the portrayal of the characters are
analyzed as part of the discussion of gender-role attitudes.

Helgeson, V. 2012. The Psychology of Gender. Boston: Pearson.

Estera Gancarz-Jurek
The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin

The influence of Hasidic and Christian mysticism on the perception of nature in the poetry
of Denise Levertov.

This article focuses on an insight of Hasidic and Christian traditions of perceiving

nature in the poetry of Denise Levertov. The poet derives from mysticism of both major
religions to emphasize the fact that natural environment is an image of Gods love towards
humankind, and therefore should be treated with respect. Her metaphoric language is often
supported by the representation of physical world, which serves as her most distinctive
inspiration. Levertov warns people against nuclear proliferation and writes poems to wake her
readers up to the ecological crisis. The main thesis of my article is that the source of poets
sensitivity to environment is derived from both Christian and Hasidic heritage.
Key words: Levertov, poetry, mysticism, nature
Gyrgy BORUS

University of Debrecen
borus.gyorgy@arts.unideb.hu

WILLIAMITE PROPAGANDA IN THE ANGLO-DUTCH

REVOLUTION

Abstract: The primary aim of this essay is to reveal the actual character of the events of
1688-89 in England, which for over three hundred years have been known as the
Glorious Revolution. I wish to argue that without the military intervention of William of
Orange, Stadholder of the United Provinces, the Revolution would not have taken place,
thus it would be more appropriate to refer to these events as the Anglo-Dutch
Revolution. Williamite propaganda which the paper describes in details played a

crucial part in the success of the Revolution, as well as in the shaping of the
interpretation (the so-called Whig interpretation) of the events after 1689, which
dominated historiography for almost three hundred years. There is special emphasis in
the essay on the analysis of the most important instrument of William of Oranges
propaganda, the Declaration of Reasons (issued on 30 September 1688), which justified
the invasion and explained the Princes intentions.

Key words: English history, seventeenth century, political propaganda, Anglo-Dutch

relations, revolution

Mgr. Petra Filipov

University: University of Pavol Jozef afrik in Koice, Slovakia
Department: British and American Studies
Proposed article: Exploring double consciousness: the portrayal of Black-Jewish
relations in Bernard Malamuds The Tenants

African Americans and Jewish Americans both have direct experience with having
been (and possibly being) marginalized by the dominant, i.e. White Anglo-Saxon
Protestant society of the United States. While the same could be said of all
minorities inthis country, Black-Jewish relations have been particularly troubled
and complex throughout the course of the American history, laced with subtext of
mutual disapproval of the other, whether for racial, economic or religious
reasons. The difficult relationship has been mirrored in literature as well,
particularly in works written by members of the aforementioned ethnic groups.
This paper strives to provide some insight into the portrayal of the relations
between these two groups in Bernard Malamuds The Tenants, one of the most
important novels dealing with the topic of Black-Jewish relations. The main focus
of the paper lies in the concept of double consciousness - a problem stressed for
African Americans and Jewish Americans by the fact that both their identities
have been partly constructed around their view of the other group - and in the
exploration of the way Malamud shapes his characters with regard to this issue.
Keywords: American ethnic literature. Bernard Malamud. The Tenants. Double
consciousness. Black-Jewish relations.

WOMEN AND NATIONAL NARRATIVES: A READING OF CULTURAL TEXTS

FROM THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY ASSAM

Manab Medhi
Assistant Professor,

10

Dept. of English, Bodoland University,

Kokrajhar, Assam, India

WOMEN AND NATIONAL NARRATIVES: A READING OF CULTURAL TEXTS FROM THE

EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY ASSAM

Abstract:
The decades around the beginning of the twentieth century witnessed certain
significant changes in Assam in the field of education, literacy, socio-political and
economic life of the people. The waves of transformation came from West Bengal,
where a bunch of young people from Assam established themselves in the vast
field of academic and socio-political activities. They engaged themselves in
various reformation movements against the age old caste system, superstitions,
gender based social and educational norms and taboos and, later on, encouraged
participation of people in these movements in Assam too. These reformative
movements were basically fuelled by the Western thoughts and values, the
students and educated men learned in Western education and ideals being the
pioneers. This Western modernity was often contested by the groups of orthodox
scholars who always kept a suspicious eye on the ongoing transformations. A
highly debated topic among the social thinkers during that period was the role
and responsibility of women under the backdrop of the ongoing socio-cultural
transformations. Women, whose traditionally designated space and role in the
society was confined to the households and the family only, sought to be
reconstructed by various groups of thinkers in accordance with their own agendas
and ideals on socio-political and cultural lives of women. However, the opposing
forces of modernity at one side and nationalism connected with the strict
adherence to tradition on the other side came to a meeting point in the culturally
reconstructed image of women with specific roles and responsibilities significant
to the socio-political contexts in that period. There were well acclaimed and
prolific writers like Ratneswar Mahanta, Punyakanta Sharma, Lambodar Bora who
failed to come out of the clutch of the age old traditional and customary beliefs
regarding the role, responsibility and space of women in society. Contrary to
these thinkers, there were many other educationists, writers and social reformers
11

like Gunabhiram Baruah, Anandaram Dhekial Phukan, Lakshminath Bezbaroa

realised the importance of womens education and empowerment and advocated
for womens education. There have been various traditionally imposed and
accepted roles of women with which the modernists intertwined ideas of
independence of women, education and recast them into the nationalistic
discourse. Many literary and other cultural texts exhibit a vast range of such
narratives where traditional images and constructs of women have been revived
and reconstructed to fit into the newer socio-political environment. This paper
analyses some of the narratives of nationalism in connection with women that
serve as a meeting point between tradition and modernity in the early twentieth
century Assam.
Key words: Nationalism, Tradition, Modernity, Women, Early twentieth century
Assam.

Debajyoti Biswas, Rustam Brahma ich artykuy s w korekcie po

recenzji

12