Er(r)go, (paste the English text) Wojciech Kalaga

Jacek Gutorow's Polish translation of a chapter of Christopher Norris's "Derrida."

The Discourse of Europe and the Search for a European Identity Abstract in English "The Discourse of Europe and the Search for a European Identity" focuses on the problematisation of the identity of contemporary Europe. Hayden White refuses to identify contemporary Europe with its allegedly inherent goodness and dignity. He argues that Europe is by no means a clear and well defined category, and indicates that, historically, it has been characterised by hegemonic tendencies and aggression against what it could not dominate or assimilate. Thus he sees the EEC and the NATO as manifestations of the hegemonic impulses of the European civilisation. White goes on to elaborate on the far-reaching consequences of the insistence on defining identities: it paves the way for racism, class distinctions and sexism. The latter part of the essay is concerned with a discussion of "La Systeme de la mode" by Roland Barthes and its implications for our attempts at defining a European identity.

This essay is concerned with Jacques Derrida's arguments promulgated in “Signature Event Context” which Fish confronts with J. L. Austin's views on performative language.

Frank Ankersmit

In Praise of Subjectivity

Frank Ankersmit argues that even in ancient times the historian's moral and political convictions affected the shape of his account of history. But other factors may also contribute to what we often describe as the historian's 'subjectivity' — his favourite field of research, characteristic mannerisms of style, a particular way of conducting an argument and finally his own intellectual capacities and limi­tations. In his essay, Ankersmit invokes the traditional views of subjectivity and objectivity, and argues that they miss an essential point about the source of the actual problem with subjectivity, which lies in the logical proximity of (historical) truth and value. Ultimately, he claims that the interrelationship between the two (truth and value) is so intimate that in historical research they define each other. Thus value emerges as a useful and not infrequently indispensable guide to historical truth.

The article focuses on linguistic features of historical discourse to interrogate the degree of difference between historiography and imaginary narration: is it valid to regard historiography as secured by its privileged signifying relationship with reality it purports to be representing? In the section devoted to the act of utterance Barthes uses the concept of shifters introduced by Roman Jacobson in order to identify those features of historical discourse that organize it, address the reader or announce the presence, or absence, of the writing subject – the historiographer. In the section devoted to the issues of utterance, in turn, he underlines those discursive processes which serve to break down historical content into units and then discusses their role in the establishment of the linguistic and cultural status of historiography. In consequence, Barthes sees historical discourse as narration generating realistic effect in its signifying process.

The article discusses the role of history in the Western culture and delineates the conditions of possibility for its discursive effects. De Certeau sees history as a discourse constituted by a radical gesture of separating the present from the past and of generating its Other(s) for representation or silent ignorance. This gesture can only be possible in alliance with its contemporary sovereign political power whose role is to validate history and to designate its place in society. In return history serves the state and aims to represent and justify it. Such a relationship between history and power determines the processes of historiography, which De Certeau understands in terms of work and production. In this respect the discourse of history reveals two complimentary yet opposing senses of reality in its scientific methodology: on the one hand, reality is the effect of history, on the other, it constitutes the very premise of history. Nonetheless, in order to pass for the discourse of reality, history needs to function in culture like myth , that is like self-reflexive praxis sustaining social identity in opposition to its Other(s).

Joel Jansen

Aesthetic Identity and the Discourse of Cultural Greyout

Taking as a departure point the case of illegal mass-reproduction of an image painted by an Australian Aboriginal artist, Joel Jensen explores the relationship between culture, art and identity. He points to the threat referred to as "cultural greyout," i.e. the inability to reproduce the identities of the past due to the contemporary mass-produc­tion of artefacts in which those identities are reflected. Jensen follows Arthur Danto's view that mass reproduc­tion changes the conveyed meaning of an artwork and, by being distributed as a commodity within the dominating society, poses a threat to the identity of the community in which the artefact was created since the history of an artwork, i.e. the circumstances that determine the artwork's creation and distribution, contribute to its aesthetic characteristics. These, in turn, remain formative for the construction of the community's identity.

Marek Paryż's Polish translation of Lawrence Buell's essay.

Title in English, Abstract in English.

Karolina Lebek's translation of Carl Humphries's essay.

Justyna Jajszczok's translation of Bruce Fink's essay.

Karolina Lebek's translation of Frederic Jameson's essay.

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