W poszukiwaniu książki idealnej, czyli Biblioman Konstantego Górskiego

Abstract

The novel Biblioman (1896) by Konstanty Maria Górski was written for the “Czas” competition, in which she won third place. It quickly gained recognition from critics and literary historians and was considered a masterpiece. Górski was a highly educated man, an expert in ancient and modern literature and painting. He published a volume of his own poetry. He also researched the literature of the Enlightenment. He did not belong to the bohemian circles of Krakow, which influenced his position in the artistic world. The bibliomaniac is a complex text, giving the possibility of various interpretations, the story of an old Sztermer, an emigrant, looking for a lost book written by a young soldier killed in a battle during the Kościuszko|’s Uprising. When read literally, it has a patriotic meaning and is connected with the rehabilitation of the Enlightenment literature. However, the pronunciation of the text does not end there. Sztremer is looking for the perfect book. The structure of the short story contains the romantic myth of the Book. At the same time, it turns out that he may be looking for a book that does not exist in the real world, only in his mind. This perfect, dream book, the search for which turns into an obsession, turns into a ghost that destroys Sztremer’s mind. The library becomes a cursed place. The bibliophile turns into a disease, an obsession, close to madness. Perhaps the soul of Sztremer was embodied in the soul of a fallen soldier-poet. Sztremer infects a young librarian with his obsession, who after his death undertakes a search for a book. In this short story, Górski brilliantly plays with the motifs of books and libraries, assigning them different contents and reading them depends on the meaning of the work taking the shape of an esoteric short story.