Ateny, Rzym, Bizancjum. Mity Śródziemnomorza w kulturze XIX i XX wieku

Abstract

The volume is a continuation of the research programme which was initiated bsy the book “Bizancjum. Prawosławie. Romantyzm. Tradycja wschodnia w kulturrze XIX wieku” (2004). This time similar subjects have been taken up in reference to the literature of Polish and East Slavonic modernism (in the Polish literature the period of Young Poland), and the literature of the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. The border dates of this period are marked by the years 1890-1918. Most of the authors have taken up the problems of re-interpretation of myths coming from the most important Mediterranean cultures: Greek, Jewish, Roman, Byzantine ones – in the literature of Polish, Russian, Ukrainian and German modernism. As it results from the research, the most often exploited myths at that time were those of classical Greece, more rarely of Rome. In the context of these findings, a specific place is occupied by the Byzantine cultural heritage. Byzantium did not create myths which would exert a strong influence on the culture of Europe but it set its remarkable stamp on the history, culture, social life, collective imagination of many Slavic countries: Russia, Ukraine, Serbia, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Slovakia, Belarus. Chapter I, entitled “Problemy z mitem”, takes up the problems of a myth in the overall context. Of particular importance is here the first article by Archbishop prof. Edward Ozorowski, showing how the attitude of christianity towards the myth has changed over the centuries: from the unwillingness and distance to a friendly receptiveness to the myth which appears to be a story including essential truths of man’s place in the universe. Hence the title of the paper: “Mit szukający prawdy”. Other essays show how the myth is treated in the Spanish culture (Ryszard Gaj), what role it performed in the work on the Renaissance by Jackob Burckhard (Marian Śliwiński), in the folk culture of the 18th century in the East of Europe (the Rev. Tadeusz Kasabuła), in the French painting (Kamil Kopania). Original versions of the myth and problems of mythologisation and demythologisation in Voltaire, Mickiewicz, Nietzsche, are dealt with in the papers by Piotr Stasiewicz, Michał Kuziak, and Zbigniew Kaźmierczak. Marek Dybizbański takes up the theatre problems of an adaptation of a classical tragedy in the reality of a drama and theatre of the second half of the 19th century. The papers of Chapter II entitled “Ujęcia XIX-wieczne” constitute a proper introduction to the discussion on modernism. They show a metamorphosis of classical notions of such creators as Plato, Pitagoras, Homer, in romantic writers: Mickiewicz, Słowacki, Norwid (Artur śywiołek, Marcin Lul, Barbara Sawicka-Lewczuk, Mikołaj Sokołowski). A separate group is made up of the essays on mythological and religious notions from the Mediterranean area, transferred to the works of such writers as Heinrich von Kleist (Bogna Paprocka-Podlasiak), Afanasij Fet (Danuta Piwowarska) or Fiodor Dostoyevskij (The Karamazov Brothers in Elżbieta Mikiciuk’s interpretation). In turn, Mikołaj Sokołowski follows the fates of the classical-mediaeval topos lusus de nomine in the lyrics by Cyprian Norwid. The third chapter, devoted to the literature of modernism, includes the analyses of lyric poetry, symbols and myths; hence the title: “W sferze liryczności”. This part of the book includes a study on “ a dancing Faunus” (Grzegorz Igliński) and the analysis of – also connected with music – the myth of Orphaeus (Halina Krukowska, Laryssa Cybenko from Lvov). Next, Anna Wydrycka takes up the motif of triumph – so well-known from history and art, from the architecture of ancient Rome – which was poetically transformed by the Korab-Brzozowski brothers. The character of Achilles was discussed in the context of the two most important writers of Young Poland: Wyspiański and Tetmajer (Jadwiga Zacharska). It was also pointed out that this mythical hero is seldom encountered in the poetry of that time. Marek Kurkiewicz produced a catalogue of ancient myths used by modernists. Chapter IV, entitled Dramat i mit, embraces the papers presenting a great modernistic reform of the theatre: in the German theatre (a study by Janusz Skuczyński) and in the Polish theatre (Marek Dybizbański). The interpretative essays by Wojciech Gutowski and Dariusz Trześniowski, in turn, try to show the specificity of a theatre adaptation of a myth of Eros and Psyche, made by a modernist sceptic which Jerzy Śuławski was. Hellenist Małgorzata Borowska looks towards the 20th-century theatre while she analyses little known Prometheus Trilogy by Nikos Kazantzakis, the author of the known Zorba the Greek. The leitmotif of the works and studies on them, collected in part V of the book : Wokoł Troi is the history of the Trojan War, read anew in the dramas by Polish playwright Stanisław Wyspiański and the Ukrainian writer Łesia Ukrainian (real name: Larysa Kosacz). This subject is dealt with by: Jarosław Poliszczuk from Kijev, Nadia Poliszczuk from Lvov and Danuta Saul from Cracow. Next, a study by Eulalia Papla shows efforts made by Łesia Ukrainian to bind the Ukrainian literature and culture with the West European and Mediterranean culture, which is opposed to by the strong Byzantine element in the Slavic literature. In turn, latinist ElŜbieta Wesołowska makes a reference to Rome and Seneka, while interpreting Wyspiański. Kreacje Tadeusza Micińskiego – chapter VII is completely devoted to one writer: a poet, novelist and playwright, the author of: W mroku gwiazd - a collection of poems fundamental for lyric poetry of Young Poland. The researchers show different aspects of using a myth and symbol: an original concept of a fate, doom and providence, the ideas of the Jewish culture in Miciński’s works (Marcin Bajko) as well as many myths and this writer’s references to: the nymph Callypso (Dorota Kulczyńska), Medusa (Elżbieta Flis), the myth of Prometheus (Jarosław Ławski) or references to the Byzantine empress Basilisa Theophano in the drama with the same title (Byzantinist Przemysław Marciniak writes about it). As it results from the presented papers, no other writer of that time collected in his works or transformed in his imagination so many myths as Miciński did. Chapter VII, entitled: “W kręgu Bizancjum”, is the reflection on the mythical and symbolic fall of the Eastern Empire. It shaped the East and West Slavs’ religious, political, social and legal notions but did not create a system of stories which we could call mythology.That is why the papers of specialists in Russian studies, of historians studying the Polish-Belorussian history, show primarily: the notions of philosophy of history in the sphere of Russian culture (Tadeusz Sucharski in Berdyayev, Hanna Kowalska in the Orthodox patriarchs), the history of the myth of the Third Rome (Urszula Cierniak), spirituality of the East (Jakub Momro in Lev Shestov). The paper by the Slovak historian Adam Hudek shows – very poorly investigated – different orientations of the Slovak elites at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, their pro-Russian sympathies and aversion to Poland’s independence aspirations, which , in Slovakia, were associated with the Poles’ affection for the Hungarians. These, in turn, were regarded by the Slovaks as occupants and persecutors of their arising national culture. Jolanta Krzystoforska- Doschek, a scientist from University of Vienna, shows a basis for mythical stories – typical of all Slavic cultures. The articles in Chapter VIII: KontynuacjeXX-wieczne, present different kinds of references to antiquity in the newer works: symbolic-mythical representations of trees in the poetry byJozef Ratajczak ( Zofia Ożóg-Ratajska), symbolism of light in the prose by Włodzimierz Odojewski (Artur śywiołek), the exegesis of an ikon (Grzegorz Nowakowski, Jakub Momro). A specialist in Russian studies, Bartłomiej Brążkiewicz, presents the topos of a wander through the Soviet psychiatric hospitals on the basis of Alexander Minchin’s prose. Finally, Krzysztof Korotkich analyses a funny, ironictragical history of the “abduction of the Sabines” (presented, among others, by Appianus of Alexandria) in the contemporary drama by Włodzimierz Szturc, a writer and comparatist from Cracow. The papers, collected in the book, prove the thesis which was put forward as early as 1939 by the Polish lover of antiquity: “Our culture has different borders than our state- argued Jan Parandowski – In the spiritual sense, Poland lies on the Mediterranean.” This notion can be referred to all the cultures of the Central and East Europe, particularly, however, to the Slavic cultures.