On searching for a postmodern way to express the Romantic tradition

Abstract

In my research I concentrate on postmodern culture and its ties with the Romantic tradition: creative ways of expressing it, as well as those that are associated with the process of petrification of Romanticism (hip-hop projects referring to the patriotic and national Romanticism). I proposea synthetic approach, which enables us to demonstrate the character of references present in postmodern art, from pastiche and intertextual games with Romantic lyrics in opposition to the romantic myths that shape the image of the national community (Dorota Masłowska “Wojna polsko-ruska pod flagą biało-czerwoną”; Sylwia Chutnik “Kieszonkowy atlas kobiet”, Ignacy Karpowicz, “Ości”). Moreover, I discuss Romantic themes in the geopoetics of Kenneth White, who promotes a return to nature and refers to the works of Friedrich Hölderlin, Novalis, and Walt Whitman. I point out associations with Romanticism in essays and historical literature reinterpreting the nineteenth-century history (György Spiró, “Messiahs”; Paweł Goźliński, “Jul”; Jacek Dehnel, “Matka Makryna”). Above all, I am interested in Romantic ties with pop culture, especially concerning the renewal of the language of the narrative of the historical experience of Poles (“Powstanie warszawskie” by Lao Che, “Noc żywych Żydów” by Igor Ostachowicz, “Miasto 44” by Jan Komasa). The synthetic overview of the links between contemporary culture and the Romantic tradition is accompanied with an interpretation that reveals the multifaceted references to Romanticism in postmodern art. I demonstrate how Radosław Rychcik translated Mickiewicz’s “Forefathers’ Eve” into the language of pop culture, and what problems are associated with this type of interpretation of an old text. The network of connections indicates the need to develop an open and dynamic attitude towards works in which one can find associations between the Romantic tradition and pop culture.