The article places the now forgotten short story by Bolesław Prus Ze wspomnień cyklisty in the mythological and metaliterary context. The prevalent role of amorous plots in this work thus becomes explained through a reference to the myth of Androgyne, solidified in Plato's Feast, that permeated Polish literature following the Romantic (A. Mickiewicz's Forefathers, Part IV) and modernist works (S. Przybyszewski's Androgyne). The article shows Prus's critical attitude to thus outlined tradition, which assumes a direct and spontaneous nature of amorous desire, since the story's protagonist only "falls in love' when other suitors appear with whom he can compete for women's favours. At the same time, the deconstruction of the androgynous myth reveals yet another concept of desire. Hence the text meets the requirements of the "constructive parody" described by M. Głowiński.
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THE BASIS OF RENÉ GIRARD’S ANTHROPOLOGYThe article presents the fundamental category of René Girard’s anthropology, namely the concept of desire. The author discusses, above all, its imitative nature which is revealed in its two basic types: the external and the internal one. The characteristic is supplemented with the metaphysical dimension which appears at times when the object of the desire is existence itself. The presentations were also widened to include the views of psychologists, for whom Girard’s findings constitute an important inspiration.
The article analyses mechanisms of collective trouble and some of its psychological results. Within the scope of first question the interpretation concerns both causes of violent acts (toward Jewish community in ancient Rome) and its final failure (i.e. restraining of pogrom). And within the scope of psychological investigation the main aim of this article is to explain the masochistic problem which depends on hidden cooperation between torturers and its victims.
The article analyses and compares two poetical texts written by women. The texts use a motif of a mirror in both literal and metaphorical way. The author compares H. Poświatowska’s and W. Szymborska’s poems to question traditional twentieth-century reception of Narcissus’ motive. The proposal that arises is to see this motive as an illusion. Any woman that watches herself in a mirror does not seek just for her sight, but also for a sight of “an other” – a man. Quoting these gives, in the author’s opinion, an argument to say that a woman watching her reflection is not able to converge the mythical Narcissus’ archer. Appearance of a man that was sought mediates the act of self-contemplation in which one that was watching gets an access to herself by both body and mind aspect. The access is possible only under a condition of “sight of an other” mediacy. The subject in women’s lyrics is liable and dependent on what can be seen as a typical feature of its modern version. This liability and dependency is being carefully masked in lyrics written by men that explore the myth of Narcissus.
The article aims at analyzing the function that Biblical quotations perform in Boleslaw Prus’ The Doll (Lalka). In the first part the author examines the prefigurative potential of the signalled quotations which demarcate the lot of many minor characters (e.g. the Wysocki brothers, baron and baroness Krzeszowscy). The second part discusses so called “acts of quoting” in which intertextual relations are cut down to the scenes the quotations appear (e.g. the walk in Powisle, the events in Skierniewice). In both cases the Bible as well as the theological discourse that interprets it prove to be a functional tool for understanding a number of unclear fragments in Prus’ masterpiece.