Alberti Unknown

„The Aristocracy of the Poor”, or Kazimiera Alberti’s narrative about the Rejected

PixAlberti Unknown, Articles and Studies, Karolina Pospiszil, nr 1 (1) 2019

The paper focuses on an undercurrent analysis of social problems present in almost all Kazimiera Alberti’s work written in an interwar period. A kind of “hierarchy” of people suffering from social, economic, ethnic and gender inequality is evident in Alberti’s works. This “hierarchy” could be considered as hell circles, although a gradation of pain and misery depends on a level of social rejection, not on committed sins. Alberti puts cultural and ethnic hybrids in the deepest circle of hell – those people are perceived as others/aliens (and often not as human beings) by both (or more) cultures/communities, they are “made” from.

Read more

Buttressless. Re-reading of The Decried Ghetto

PixAlberti Unknown, Articles and Studies, Halina Magiera, nr 1 (1) 2019

The paper is an attempt to analyse and interpret one of Kazimiera Alberti’s novel, The Decried Ghetto / Ghetto potępione, using new theoretical tools and methodology, i.a. Derrida’s deconstruction and feminist approach. The novel’s main character, Róża Grünszpann, not only torments herself with self-reproach and her own prejudices towards ethnic group, she came from – she also struggles with gender perception. These three factors are inseparably connected. Hence, Róża – by helping people from her childhood home, the ghetto – tries to manage her own fears, repulsion and identity issues.

Read more

The trembling voice of the poet

PixAlberti Unknown, Anna Krawczyk, Articles and Studies, nr 1 (1) 2019

The text is a polemic with critical literary studies that recognize Kazimiera Alberti as a poet creating “light and simple” works. In the volume Kalinowa Hour can be traced wealth of tradition from which the poet drew: from the Franciscan, by biblical references, to the Kabbalah. In addition, the poems of the Alberti contain “crevices and cracks” which, interpreted in the context of Kierkegaard’s philosophy, Derrida and Agata Bielik-Robson’s works, may indicate the originality of poet. Going beyond the ideas of minoritas and fraternitas lead the careful reader to the metaphor of the string and interesting reflections on the desire and animating attitude of insatiability. The intuition that the poet has overtaken her age is not only the poems, but their realization and extension – a rich and extraordinary life.

Read more