Ezoteryczna symbolika florystyczna w prozie modernistów

Abstract

The article focuses on esoteric plants appearing in modernist prose, where we notice an apparent turn towards the natural world. It is worth emphasizing that the modernists criticized the industrial civilization, which had irretrievably destroyed the landscape. Therefore, it is unsurprising that images of a sick, rickety nature threatened with death often appear in the literature of the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. The fascination with nature in modernists’ prose also corresponded with art trends such as Art Nouveau and Impressionism. Among esoteric plants, a fern flower appears often. In their descriptions, writers often refer to old legends and tales from Slavic mythology. Also of interest are images of hallucinogenic plants, which for modernist artists have become a source of searching for new artistic inspirations. The description of floristic motifs also shows changes in the description from realistic to impressionistic, which makes the world of nature sometimes resembles a fairy-tale reality.