Review of The Body, ed. by Ilona Dobosiewicz and Jacek Gutorow

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After Community and NearnessFDPHThe BodyWKHVHFRQG volume of “Readings in English and American Literature and Culture” se-ries from the University of Opole Press, edited by Ilona Dobosiewicz and Jacek Gutorow. In preparations for the third heave, the editors, I hear, are now hunting for contributions in American studies on dreamy visions, LOOXVLRQVUHYHULHVDOWHUHGVWDWHVRIFRQVFLRXVQHVVDQGVXFKOLNH%XWğUVW teasingly, they feigned the need to map what was once considered the more solid vectors in American culture, those dictated by irreducible bodies, resistant skin and nonnegotiable bodily needs. Of course, their collection VKRZVLQVRPDQ\ZD\VWKDWWKHROGGLFKRWRPLHVĽERG\YVVRXOQDWXUHYV FXOWXUHĽQRORQJHUKROG

*XWRURZijVHOHJDQWLQWURGXFWLRQOD\VRXWWKHVHWWLQJIRUKLVFRQWULEX-tors. Cartesian extrapolations, he says, have long since been replaced by the accounts of the body offered by the late Husserl and Merleau-Ponty. The world we are given is always already embodied, our corporeality noth-LQJOHVVWKDQDbĴPHGLXPIRUKDYLQJWKHZRUOGĵ7KLVDOVRPHDQVĴWKHOLYHG ERG\ĵLVQRWMXVWLQVFULEHGEXWDOVRLQWKHSRVLWLRQWRQHJRWLDWH

$IWHU WKH LQWURGXFWLRQ WKH UHDGHU LV SOXQJHG LQWR Db ZHOWHU RI DS-proaches, specializations and critical temperaments. First in the collection, ,ORQD'RERVLHZLF]ijVHVVD\LVPRGHVWO\FRQFHLYHGEXWOXFLGO\ZULWWHQKHU WUHDWPHQWRIWKHPDOHERG\LQ9LFWRULDQLVPPDNHVWKHERRNVHHPFRP-SUHKHQVLYH6KHGLVFXVVHV7KRPDV+XJKHVijV9LFWRULDQQRYHOTom Brown’s

Schooldays to only evoke the discourses of athleticism and character

build-LQJDVLPSRUWDQWHOHPHQWVRI*UHDW%ULWDLQijVLPSHULDOLVWLGHRORJ\,QWKH QH[WHVVD\$OLFMD3LHFKXFNDğQGVWUDFHVRIécriture féminine in little known SRHPVE\+DUW&UDQHDQG0LQD/R\9HU\VROLGO\DQGOXFLGO\DUJXHGWKH essay only left me wondering why écriture féminineLQWKHğUVWSODFHDQG ZKHWKHUWKHFKRLFHRIWKHSRHPVZDVQRWDUELWUDU\DQG&L[RXVijFRQFHSW PDGHWRVHHPDSSOLFDEOHZLWKRXWOLPLWV,I+DUW&UDQHDQGĴ6WDUN0DMRUĵ is in, why not Hemingway and “The Indian Camp,” with its recognition RI ELUWK WUDXPD XQDFNQRZOHGJHG E\ FRQYHQWLRQDO PHGLFLQH" ,VQijW WKH ZRPDQijV EUHDWK\ VLOHQFH EHKLQG WKH GRFWRUijV QRLV\ VHOIDVVXUDQFHV

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-HU]\'XUF]DNLQDbKLJKO\UHDGDEOHSLHFHJURSHVIRUWKHPDLQWKHPDWLF FRQFHUQVRI/XF\*UHDO\ijVautopathography. 7KHWLWOHRI*UHDO\ijVQRY-el Autobiography of the Face FRXOGQRWKDYHEHHQPRUHDSW9HU\PHPRUD-bly, Jean Stafford in “The Interior Castle” withdraws from her social face/ LQWHUIDFHWRFRPPXQHZLWKKHUGLVHPERGLHGVHOIUHĠHVKHGZLWKKDOOXFL-nated tissue but anatomically evasive and safely removed from the reach of the most zealous surgeon. Durczak shows how Lucy Grealy, by contrast, “was her face, was ugliness.” Appreciating pain as staring her in the face and therefore more honest than her high school friends, affectionate for KRVSLWDOVDVRIIHULQJKHUVRPHUHVSLWHIURPWKHUHYXOVHGORRNVĠDXQWLQJ her sex appeal to make up for years of neglect, she is thoroughly invested LQKHUIDFH:DUQLQJWKHUHDGHULWZLOOEHDbYHQWXUHLQWRDQXQGHUVWXGLHG and under-understood subgenre of American autobiography, Durczak JLYHVDbGHWDLOHGUHYLHZRILWVVHQWLPHQWVDQGLQWHUHVWVTXRWHVSURIXVHO\ but avoids offering any incisive reading.

%RJXWD0DUFKHOijV HVVD\ RQ WKH JURWHVTXH LQ Blood Meridian seems DbELWXQFHUWDLQRILWVSXUSRVHV)LUVWLWDPELWLRXVO\VLIWVWKURXJKGLVSDUDWH and often verbose theories of the grotesque but rests with the disarming admission the term is “anything but clear.” No wonder the subsequent inventory of the grotesque images in the novel does not add up to much. )RULQVWDQFHWKHDXWKRUSUHVHQWVZHOO:92ij&RQQRUijVGHğQLWLRQRIWKH JURWHVTXHDVPDQLIHVWLQJLQWHUQDOO\FRQĠLFWHGUDFLVPEXWWKHQGURSVLWDV XVHOHVV IRU 0F&DUWK\ijV QRYHO 6LPLODUO\ %RJXWD0DUFKHO ğQGV WKH H[LV-tentialist sentiments in the grotesque mode of little help either. The last VHFWLRQRQĽFXULRXVO\ĽWKHĴOLPLWDWLRQVRIYLVXDOLW\ĵRQO\DJJUDYDWHVWKH general impression of directionlessness.

:HDUHXVHGWRVHHLQJ/DFDQijVQDPHFURSXSLQWKHPRVWXQOLNHO\SODFHV EXW3DZHï6WDFKXUDijVHVVD\LVWUXO\LPDJLQDWLYH+HğQGVWUDFHVRI/DFDQijV LPDJLQDWLRQ LQ WKH V VFLHQFH ğFWLRQ E\ &RUGZDLQHU 6PLWK NQRZQ among foreign policy scholars as Paul M.A. Linebarger. Lacan read the ar-WLVWLFUHSUHVHQWDWLRQVDQGGUHDPVRIERGLO\GLVğJXUHPHQWHYLVFHUDWLRQDQG suchlike as ways of reliving the anxieties and desires involved in the process RIHJRIRUPDWLRQ:HijUHKDUGZLUHGWRHQYLVLRQLWLQWHUPVRIDbERG\VHHN-LQJWRDVFHUWDLQLWVLQWHJULW\DJDLQVWWKHLQğQLWHVSDFH&RUGZDLQHU6PLWKijV characters have bodies dislocated, strained to the breaking point to live up to the scale and extremities of space. More interestingly they are rooted in

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Country. +HUH WKH ERG\ ğJXUHV DV Db PRGH RI WKH VWUXFWXUDOO\ FRPSOH[ Dasein. Marcinkiewicz explores less the phenomenological “lived body”

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So much in the essays, even those which seemed to me less success-ful, warrants serious attention. They all show that in American studies the “body,” after decades of post-dualist sociological and anthropological revisions, is still “alive and kicking.” I miss the bios of the contributors WRVHHKRZWKHHVVD\VVLWLQWKHLUORQJWHUPSURMHFWVDQGFDUHHUVEXWLWLV FOHDUWKDWWKHFROOHFWLRQLVDbPDMRUSXEOLFDWLRQRQWKHWURSHRIWKHERG\ produced by Polish Americanists of late.