Apokalipsa. Symbolika - tradycja - egzegeza, t. 2

Abstract

Studies, essays and sketches, compiled in the volume II of the collective work under the title: The Apocalypse. Symbolism - tradition - exegesis, concern the problems of transformation of apocalyptic symbolism in the literary works trom the 18th to the 21 st century. The authors use different methodologies, refer to different philosophical traditions: hermeneutics, subject criticism, post-modemistic thinking as well as to traditional ways of studying semantics of a symbol, topos and motif. All the texts show unusual power, with which the Revelation of St John the Divine and the apocalyptic ideas influence the Polish and world literature. The analyses show how the perception of the "apocalyptic subject " changes with time. In the 18th and 19th centuries it still had distinctive religious context. Such writers as Zygmunt Krasiński or Heinrich von Kleist combined apocalyptic motifs in their works with the history of philosophy. This set of presentations underwent gradual secularization in the philosophy represented by Hegel, Feuerbach and their followers. At the tum of the 19th and 20th centuries, apocalyptic themes had stronger and stronger historical and sociological meaning. The Apocalypse in that period was the history of man, historical events or revolutionary social, demographic and civilisational changes. In the 20th century, the Apocalypse was understood as a civilisational or war disaster (overpopulation, A-bomb) while in the 21 st century it takes the form of a conflict between hostile civilizations: the European (Christian) and extra-European (Islamic) one. The main role in these changes was played by the events from 11th September, 2001, in New York (the attack on the World Trade Center). At the same time, a different trend appears in modem literature: the Apocalypse is being subjectivised, it becomes the existential experience of a lonely, helpless human being, often left with death face to face. This subtle aspect of the motif is clearly shown by poetry, which, nevertheless, referred to the tragedy of the 21 st century in New York. The first chapter of the book .- Zygmunt Krasiński - catastrophe and salvation - comprises texts on the Polish romantic poet, "the third bard", Zygmunt Krasiński. His poetry, dramas and prose greatly abounded in apocalyptic motifs, which he took both trom the BibIe (a study by Z. Sudolski: At source of Zygmunt Krasiński 's imagination and thought) and from the achievements of the 19th century civilization, science and the idea of progress of humankind (a work by M. Dybizbański: Steam and electricity -figures of the Apocalypse). Krasiński attached a particular significance to the vision of historical Apocalypse; the events such as Polish national uprisings, the Springtime ofNations or the European wars were perceived by him as a harbinger of the end of time. In chapter II, entitled Romantics on the paths of Revelation, the researchers of the literature of the Romanticism looked into such phenomena as: apocalyptic imagination of the greatest Polish Romantic poet Adam Mickiewicz (here: M. Kuziak, Mickiewicz 's Apocalypse. Around 4th course of Parisian lectures) and apocalyptic symbolism in the poetry of such classics as Juliusz Słowacki (see: L. Zwierzyński, Apocalypticism in Słowacki 's mystic poetry) or Cyprian Norwid (see: G. Halkiewicz-Sojak, Cyprian Norwid's " apocalyptic " poems). The picture of the epoch is supplemented with studies of European writers: B. Paprocka Podlasiak's study of The earthquake in Chile by Heinrich von Kleist and W. Trzeciakowski's essay on the Golden Epoch as an eschatological theme in the writings of Novalis. The subject of interpretations in chapter III is defined by its very title: From the positivism to Young Poland. The researchers analyse there the works of the classics of Polish literature from the 2nd half of the 19t11 century and the beginning of the 20th century. T. Bujnicki discusses The Apocalypse "for comforting hearts " in the novel With fire and Sword by H Sienkiewicz, M. Bajko interprets the novel Mene-Mene -Thekel -Upharisi! by T. Miciński and D. Trześniowski studies The picture of Christ in modemistic apocalypses. Two papers make use of the feministic perspective: L. Wiśniewska explores Offering of the princess ... in Jan Lemański and A. Wydrycka wonders: Do women like the Apocalypse? The chapter is enriched by comparative studies: E. Mikiciuk's on The Brothers Karamazov by Dostojewski, P. Próchniak's on a Hungarian writer, Geza Csath, the author of Matricide and Margreta Grigorowa's from Bulgaria on Polish and Bulgarian paraphrases of the Apocalypse. In chapter IV - Between the wars and ... before the war - the researchers have interpreted apocalyptic representations in the literature of 1914-1939. They were the consequence of World War I but also heralded World War II. D. Kalinowski writes here about The Penal colony by Kafka, M. Kochanowski presents A Parady of the myth of "yellow danger" in Insatiability by Witkacy, W. Próchnicki takes up the subject which will soon become very important: the Jewish world, Chasidism in the territories of South Poland, shown in the prose of Stanisław Vincenz. Two researchers analyse a poetic satire A Ball in the Opera by J. Tuwim. It is dealt with by R.Jagodzińska (The apocalyptic lampoon ... ) and by E. Sidoruk (The Apocalypse and cabaret). After 1939: history and suffering - it is the title of chapter V, which analyses the war shock of 1 93 9-1 945 and its consequences in the literature. The chapter starts with a shocking text by H. Krukowska: God's Mother of Katyń in Polish poetry. Three papers - by G. Nowakowski, K. Sokołowska and D. Nazaruk - are devoted to the tragedy of the Holocaust in the works of Paul Celan, Adolf Rudnicki and Grigorij Kanowicz. A separate place is occupied by the papers on the post-war poetry of Józef Wittlin (a sketch by J.Brzozowski), of Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz (a study by Z. Chojnowski). Furthermore, K. Jakowska concentrated on Witold Gombrowicz's less known novel Cosmos , and J. Momro - on "experiencing suffering" in the prose of Aleksander Wat. Problems of chapter VI are expressed by its title: Explorations of the present. An analysis embraces here such different phenomena as The Roman triptych by John Paul II (H. Krukowska), Paul Claudel's dramas (M. Lul), lyrics of the classics of Polish poetry such as: T. Różewicz (P. Dakowicz), Z. Herbert (M. Mikołajczak) or Julia Hartwig (D.Kulczycka). Two essays are devoted to historical and cultural relationships between Poland and Germany (E. Konończuk writes about Erwin Kruk; Alois Woldan from Vienna ­about the prose of Henryk Waniek). M. Wieremiejuk precisely analyses the poetics of poems by a young poetess Marzanna Kielar whereas R. Chodźko discovers a metaphysical dimension of poetry by a Swede: Tomas Transtromer. At the end of the volume - in chapter VII under the title of Visions of future - there are those interpretations whose time horizon somehow reaches into the future. Historians of literature study here novels by Kurt Vonnegut (J. Kamionowski), Thomas Bemhard (L. Libera), Leonid Leonow (W. Supa). Next, M. Leś interprets the problem of The Apocalypse in science fiction, E. Dutka and K. Termińska study apocalyptic motifs in short stories and novels of contemporary writers: Olga Tokarczuk and Andrzej Zaniewski. To conclude, it can be stated that apocalyptic motifs have been the most creative and most frequently used in the literature of the last two centuries. Paradoxically, the text about the end of history and humankind - the Revelation of St John the Divine - opens still new chapters in the history of literature and culture.