Mocarz…?

Abstract

Stanisław Brzozowski sent his Mocarz to the Henryk Sienkiewicz drama contest, organised on the occasion of the opening in 1901 of the Teatr Wielki [The Grand Theater] in Lodz. His drama, awarded third prize, deals with the most difficult events in his life: the embezzlement of monetary contributions collected by the student members of Bratniak, reprehensible testimonies given in 1898 in the Warsaw Citadel, and accusations of collaboration and intelligence with the Tsarist Okhrana. A hundred years after the writer's death, "the Brzozowski case" remains a sensitive question in the history of literature. I do not intend to defuse this taboo, stating at my own risk Brzozowski's guilt or innocence. I attempt, instead, to reveal the mechanisms of stigmatization current in the tense political situation of the Kingdom of Poland at the break of centuries, and to understand and interpret the Mocarz as an attempt at actively resisting social exclusion that deprives one of one's means of life.