SANCITICITY OR COMMODITY? NATURE AS INTERPRETED BY AMERICAN COUNTERCULTURE
Abstrakt
Abstract
At first, earlier ideas of the relationship between man and nature within the American
culture are concisely restated: above all, the transcendentalist view upon this relationship,
expressed by Emerson and Thoreau, and then basically questioned from the perspective
of existential alienation or cognitive skepticism (Poe, Dickinson, Crane). Then,
American counterculture, in the literary/artistic sense represented by the Beats and later by
the Hippies, is presented, both in its unfortunate attempt at returning to Emerson’s concept
of divine harmony between man and nature and in its literary/artistic representatives being
alienated in the “disenchanted world” of the mid-20th century America (see at least by
Kerouac’s Big Sur or Easy Rider, a classic film of the Hippie era). Eventually, an analogy
is suggested between Kerouac and his Polish acolyte, Edward Stachura (chronologically
belonging to the Hippie generation), who showed in his writings hypersensitive individuals,
fatally alienated both from nature and humanity – which, ultimately, was hardly the
case with the Beats or their Hippie followers.
Key words: transcendentalism harmony paradise beaters hippies bohemia alienation scepticism
existentialism
Streszczenie
Na początku dokonano skrótowej rekapitulacji historycznych poglądów na temat
natury w literaturze i kulturze USA, ze szczególnym naciskiem na poglądy transcendentalistów
amerykańskich (Emerson, Thoreau), później zakwestionowane z perspektywy,
romantycznego dekadentyzmu, naturalizmu czy też egzystencjalizmu i właściwego mu
sceptycyzmu poznawczego (Poe, Dickinson, Crane). W części zasadniczej ukazano amerykańską
kontrkulturę XX wieku – w sensie artystycznym i literackim reprezentowaną
najpierw przez beatników, a później przez hipisów – niezdolną do powrotu do Emersonowskiej
koncepcji boskiej harmonii między człowiekiem i naturą oraz dramatycznie
wyalienowaną w “odczarowanym świecie” cywilizacji amerykańskiej połowy XX wieku
(patrz powieść Kerouaca Big Sur albo Easy Rider, sztandarowy film epoki hipisowskiej),
Pod koniec zarysowano analogię między Kerouacem a jego polskim wyznawcą Edwardem
Stachurą, należącym raczej do pokolenia hipisowskiego – akcentując zarazem wymowne
różnice między nimi.
Słowa kluczowe: transcendentalizm harmonia raj beatnicy hipisi cyganeria alienacja sceptycyzm
egzystencjalizm
Bibliografia
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