Genetic criticism as a cultural poietics of (non)memory

Antoniuk begins by proposing that genetic criticism (the study of the process of writing) as a scholarly practice has a potential for effective and valuable collaboration with memory studies. In parts two and three he offers a literary critical and sociological analysis of Zbigniew Herbert’s poem "Wilki", which enjoys the status of a memory text. Antoniuk begins by examining its publication history, then demonstrates the effectiveness of genetic criticism which - by revealing the poem’s manuscript pre-history - deepens our understanding of it as "a medium of memory". Part four is a methodologial and theoretical extrapolation of the insights gained from the analysis of this unique case.