NEW LONELINESS (ONLINE) (Nowa samotnosc (w sieci))

The author's main interest is focused on the blogosphere, which provides a platform for a wide range of texts and forms of expression. They include literature proper and a great variety of critical commentaries, from autobiographical reflection (in the form of a diary-made-public) to comments and opinions embracing hearsay, infrequently written in fiercely polemical tones. Those who venture into the blogosphere must be prepared for reactions of cultural hostility. The new loneliness may result from the blogger's desire or the feeling of rejection and alienation. At the same time one's online presence may create a sense of commitment, with all its favourable connotations, especially if the point of it lies in some kind of quest (discovering one's own potential, demonstrating one's writing skills, manifesting one's faith in beauty and literature, or inventing stories just for fun). The reader becomes then the subject (agent) of hitherto unrealized modes of existence: some cases which illustrate this process are examined in detail.