Sztuka biografii (literackiej)

Madejski presents Lidia Kośka’s recent biography of aphorist and poet Stanisław Jerzy Lec – Lec: Autobiografia słowa (Warsaw, 2015) – as a prime example of literary biography today. He argues that the book revives the old formula of a monograph focused on “the writer’s life and work”. In Kośka’s case the book is about “the life and poetics” of Lec. Madejski also highlights the significance of Kośka’s book for future Lec scholars: we can expect new interpretations of individual aphorisms (philological, historical, political, religious, philosophical) from Lec’s Myśli nieuczesane (Unkempt Thoughts; 1957), further comparative studies of Lec’s work (e.g. in the context of Austro-Modernism) as well as studies in the context of other fields, such as law.