Created voices: voice(s) and genre in Polish literature

The prominent place of drama and the reportage is characteristic for Polish literature. One aim of the project is to understand this prominence in the light of the opportunities of expression of these two genres in comparison to those of poetry and prose. The category of voice, which I take to comprise despite the narrator, also of the lyrical speaker, the characters in the drama and the reporter, is central for understanding the roles of the different genres in the literature. However, the category of voice in literary criticism still needs clarification. For the relation between focalisation and voice is to be reconsidered. In accounts of voice given so far, the conventions of the different literary genres have at most in passing been taken into account. But it is not least because of them that the scope of expression of the grammatical forms I, you and he/she differ. Also the implications about the speakers reliability or knowledge differ for the genres. Closely related to this is the question about which aspects of the self (can) come to bear in each of the genres. Against the background of genre theory, such an enquiry needs to cover all the relevant genres in one epoch. In order to guarantee that differences in expression are not due to simply to thematic differences, the motif of travel, in particular of encounters during journeys, lies at the centre of the project. One innovative aspect of the project lies in that the notion of voice is considered by means of a comparative approach. Another novel approach is given by an enquiry into travel literature under the perspective of how the speakers are constituted. The project aims at a systematic concept of voice. This will be achieved by enquiring into the interdependence of voice and genre, thereby shedding new light also on some of the central features of Polish literature in their historical development. 1

One aim of the project was to understand the prominent place of drama and the reportage in Polish literature in the light of the opportunities of expression of these two genres in comparison to those of poetry and prose. The category of voice, which I took to comprise despite the narrator, also the lyrical speaker, the characters in the drama and the reporter, is central for understanding the roles of the different genres in the literature. The main aim was to clarify the category of voice, which in literary criticism still needs further specification. For that the scope of expression, the implications about the speakers reliability or knowledge, which differ for the genres, and the question about which aspects of the self (can) come to bear in each of the genres are the main focus of my research. In order to guarantee that differences in expression are not due simply to thematic differences, the motif of travel, in particular of encounters during journeys, lied at the centre of the project. One innovative aspect of the project lies in that the notion of voice is considered by means of a comparative approach. Another novel approach is given by an enquiry into travel literature under the perspective of how the speakers are constituted. Since the project lasted only 6 months, many of these issues addressed have not been answered so far. Main progress could be made with view to the character constitution in drama (and theatre).