Topografia upiorna miejsc autobiograficznych albo có straszy w swincjanskim pawieci?

Abstract

The article interprets the novel Bohiń by Tadeusz Konwicki. It shows that most of its characters have indefinite spectre-like status and that the portrayed reality also appears to have some uncanny, incredible aura. The resulting analysis is, therefore, inspired by psychoanalysis and by anthropological school of Polish (post)romanticism, as proposed by Maria Janion. The author aims to demonstrate that the reality depicted here emerges as a projection of the protagonist’s consciousness. Consequently, the hidden dimension of her inner life becomes transferred onto the “map” of the Bohiń vicinity. At the same time, the author becomes engaged in an unconventional genre game with the 19th and 20th-century literary clich´es of a “Lithuanian text”. In doing so, he begins to exorcize Polish culture, which still remains “haunted” by phantoms of romanticism.