The article relates to selected issues in the reception of the works by Tadeusz Dołęga-Mostowicz in recent Polish literary research. The text is a reflection on what made the author of Trzecia płeć [The Third Sex] a subject of intense scrutiny by researches. It proposes that the popularity of Dołęga-Mostowicz stems not only from the fact that his works relate to topics which can attract contemporary readers. The article highlights that the biography of the author (as a witness of, and a participant in, his times), is so fascinating, that it becomes worthy of a separate reflection for readers and scholars, which is not a common occurrence for authors of popular literature. In the present article, the consideration of a position occupied by the author of Profesor Wilczur [Professor Wilczur] on the map of Polish literature is related to the exploration of the issue of over-interpretation of popular texts. It is also connected to the attempts at inscribing ‘the third one’ into the sphere of interpretative readings, to which the text does not entitle one. The article also discusses this in relation to the issue of anachronism in literary research, as well as to attributing a creative intention to an author of a literary text, which was not part of their original concept.
The text discusses the suitability of the taboo category in the study of popular literature, in which it is a part of the collective experience of some community and, at the same time, an important cultural category. It is also one of the most common topics of this kind of literature, allowing to refer to the reader’s experience. The category of the taboo shows also how important in the study on “that third” is an emotional sphere, and how it can be dangerous from the point of view of the researcher (which can be observed mainly in a not very careful use of discourses very much result–oriented in research to interpret). Applying the taboo category can be helpful in the description of the text’s axiology, too. The category of the taboo in popular literature is described by comparing "Bracia Dalcz i S–ka" by Tadeusz Dołęga–Mostowicz and "Opętani" by Witold Gombrowicz. Both these texts are linked by the method of using the categories of the taboo and the shame. The shame in the analysed novels, which is symptomatic, is a disappearing category: the characters are not ashamed of their actions but they are hiding them, and this can become a driving force of the action. Breaking the taboo in the popular novel is also associated with the search for identity, which can be observed on the example of Mostowicz’s work heroine who is forced, for reasons of inheritance, to live in a male disguise. The category of the taboo in popular literature of the inter–war period documents as well, the shift from the didactic function of the texts that belong to “that third” to the entertainment one. An interesting procedure of "Bracia Dalcz i S–ka" is obliterating the memory of the taboo, the existence of which could make it difficult for recipients to identify with the main characters of the text. The study of this phenomenon in popular literature proves also that the popular novel of the first half of the twentieth century, despite the postulated bravery or even scandalous content, in fact remains a medium for conservative world view, at least in Polish conditions.
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