„In den Tiefen wird alles gesetz”… Przyczynek do dziejów literackiego motywu jaskini

Abstract

In the course of history, the cave, a natural geological void, has acquired its semantic richness in anthropology, religion, philosophy and culture, its major connotation relating to the journey to the inside of the Earth. In the literature from the ancient times up to the present we can distinguish various realizations of the motifs of the nether regions, caves, grottos or caverns, but out of this variety emerge three basic symbolic orientations: “the caves of subconscious”, “the grottos of birth” and “the metaphysical caverns”. The overview of the most interesting examples of the classic and contemporary European epic works (A. Pope’s The Rape of the Lock; J. W. Goethe’s Faust; A. Stifter’s Narrenburg and Bergkristall; J. I. Kraszewski’s Ładowa pieczara; E. Sábato’s On Heroes and Tombs; R. Musil’s Grigia; and P. Süskind’s Perfume) reveals the aesthetic preferences of particular epochs and authors, thus confirming the presence of the universal anthropological code, which is inscribed in the depictions of underground journeys.