Iwona Szydłowska

Artykuł ten jest próbą zastanowienia się nad rolą artysty i zasadnością odzyskiwania przez niego przeszłości. Podejmuje on nie tylko kwestie artystycznego mierzenia się ze wszystkimi zawiłościami i trudnościami, jakie wymaga zrozumienie naszego obecnego miejsca w czasie. Odwołując się do dzieła Marcela - Mądrość i poczucie sacrum, porusza temat dziedzictwa kulturowego, wdzięczności oraz stara się pokazać głęboki związek łączący pamięć z wiernością. Z jednej strony wierność w stosunku do przeszłości, a z drugiej oczyszczanie teraźniejszości z wyidealizowanej przeszłości – to wszystko zadania, przed którymi stoi artysta. Wymagają one nie tylko odwagi, ale i artystycznej świadomości, której przykładem może być twórczość William Faulknera, jednego z pierwszych amerykańskich artystów, którzy podjęli się trudnego zadania mówienia o trudnej przeszłości swojego narodu. Artykuł nie tylko podejmuje kwestię roli artysty w odzyskiwaniu czasu z Faulknerowskiego punktu widzenia, lecz jest próbą zastanowienia się, czy od tego czasu coś się we współczesnej sztuce zmieniło. The Role of an Artist in Regaining Time - Faulkner’s casus The article is an attempt to reflect on the role and responsibility of an artist towards time and history. It not only touches on the issues of artistic confrontation with all the complexities and difficulties that require understanding of our current place in time. Referring to the work of Gabriel Marcel – Wisdom and Beyond, it touches on the question of cultural heritage, gratitude and tries to present a deep connection that links memory with fidelity. On the one hand, fidelity to the past and purification of the present from the idealized past, on the other, the challenges that are to be faced by the artist - courage as well as artistic awareness. William Faulkner was one of the first American artists who took on the difficult task of writing about the ambivalent past of his own nation. The article not only touches on the problem of the role of the artist in facing the past from the Faulknerian point of view, but is also an attempt to consider whether something has changed in contemporary art since the times of this unquestionable genius of “regaining the time” in literary art.

This article raises the problem of philosophical aspects of William Faulkner’s works. It is intended first of all to review in brief the place of philosophy in literature and to prove that William Faulkner deserves a special place among philosophical writers such as Kierkegaard, Marcel and Sartre. Although not sufficiently recognized as a philosophical writer, William Faulkner is among those who have successfully introduced philosophical ideas into their novels. This article intends to bear out that Faulkner’s novels do not only consider some fundamental philosophical concepts but also open the door to further philosophical debates. The first, shortest part of this work is a presentation of the philosophical discussion concerning the fusion of philosophy and literature. There, the focus is on the negative and positive approaches to the issue of combining philosophy and literature as represented by such prominent philosophers as Iris Murdoch, Jacquelyne Kegley, Martha Nussbaum and Philip Kitcher. In its second part, the article presents William Faulkner’s philosophical affiliations of interest, which are: metaphysics, linguistics, ethics, religion and existentialism. The conclusion stresses Faulkner’s input into philosophy but also indicates different fields his novels open for further philosophical investigation. Keywords: literature, philosophy, Faulkner, metaphysics, linguistics, ethics, religion,

Cathartic-Compensatory Role of an Artwork This article raises the problem of catharsis and its role in arts. It is intended first of all to present, in brief, the controversy about this term in the history of literature and other forms of art and then give a short review of its most important aspects. The article intends to look at catharsis, taking into account its various aspects and different positions as to its role in literature as well as socio-cultural life. It particularly emphasizes the role of Bohdan Dziemidok, who as one of the first researchers to draw attention to the cathartic-compensatory function of art and the role of the recipient’s experience in it. The article, following this trail, presents the latest results of contemporary research on the cathartic-compensatory function of art. A the author argues, they are not only confirmation of Dziemidok’s apt research intuitions but also contribute to the reformulation of our general thinking about art and its role in a contemporary world.