On an Electric Arc

Maciej Nowaks book is the first monograph on the writings of Andrzej Bobkowski (19131961), a Polish migr writer from the millieu of Jerzy Giedroycs Kultura journal. Bobkowski is famous for his diary Wartime Notebooks: France 19401944, translated into many languages, including English. Using current methods of the French school in the study of diaristics and epistolography, Nowak overcomes the limits of aesthetic analysis to reach the anthropological center of Bobkowskis authorial practices. In this way, Nowak unveils the existential and axiological dimension of Bobkowskis work. Thus, the book offers a coherent depiction of the rich and diverse writings of Bobkowski, prepared with methods of modern humanities.