Agnieszka Waligóra
A b s t r a k t
The paper contributes to the critical discussion about the problem of interpreting literature, studying the traditions used in the process. It analyzes Walter Benn Michaels’s intentionalism and its Polish reception in contemporary literary criticism. The polemics between two intentionalists (Paweł Kaczmarski and Łukasz Żurek) with Dawid Kujawa, a representative of post-structural affective criticism, which took place in “Mały Format” in 2021, is summarized. Next, methodological comments regarding the intentionalist project are presented. Although Michaels is typically considered a pragmatist, significant elements of phenomenology can be found in his ideas. Those dependencies are analyzed in the context of the notion of theory, leading to conclusions regarding possible contradictions in the intentionalist thought and its Polish interpretations.