2024-10-04

We invite researchers from the fields of literary studies, cultural studies and translation theory and practice to submit contributions to the category of shame in literature.

The manuscript is to be submitted via the OJS platform until February 28th, 2025.

The publication is planned for the year 2025.

 

In cultural studies, there is no standardised definition for the category of shame. Shame - a basic existential human experience - can be understood as an oppressive force that restricts the body and the consciousness of the subject, then it becomes a regulator of social behaviour in a particular sphere and - following Eugeniusz Jaworski - ‘an important factor in the creation of cultural facts’ (E. Jaworski, Wstyd jako kategoria typologiczna, in: Wstyd w kulturze. Zarys problematyki, ed. E. Kosowska, Katowice 1998, p. 45). Ewa Kosowska is of the opinion that at least five areas of shame can be distinguished, which constitute the inner complexity of culture and make it possible to view the shame-inducing phenomena from the perspective of the individual and the collective. These are:   1. the sphere of scarcity (shame of deprivation), 2. the sphere of abundance, 3. the sphere of desires (shame about phenomena that damage the image, i.e. shame about nature, origin, family, religious difference, etc.), 4. the sphere of competence (realisation of aspirations in connection with shame about ignorance, omission, mistakes) 5. the sphere of display (aimed at reinforcing the previous state of culture or undermining the sense of a certain element of reality) (cf. E. Kosowska, Wstyd. Konotacje antropologiczne, in: Wstyd w kulturze. Zarys problematyki, op.cit. S. 59-60).   The memory of rules sanctioned by shame persists for a relatively long time, therefore one of the important problems associated with the integration of the contemporary world is to get to know the whole spectrum of the phenomenon of shame and to analyse its structure, meaning and function in contemporary culture. Starting from the assumption that a literary text provides a specific model of the world based on cultural categories, the study of the literarisation of the category of shame and the way in which it manifests itself is a way of recognising and reconstructing hidden patterns of culture. Analysing and interpreting literary works through the prism of the category of shame therefore offers the possibility of diagnosing contemporary societies. We invite researchers from the fields of literary studies, cultural studies and translation theory and practice to consider the following aspects of the category of shame: - Shame as a historically variable and yet unchanging category, - prohibitions and commandments associated with the category of shame,   - the cultural conditioning of the category of shame, - the way in which shame manifests itself as a component that indicates cultural difference, - the suppression of shame in different areas of the subject's life, - Shame as an element of the discursive construct of power-knowledge, - shame as a psychosomatic phenomenon that is reflected in cultural behaviour. The proposals presented here do not exclude other representations of shame in literature and culture.