„Rzecz powinna się dziać w ciemnym wąwozie...” Ironie w Oziminie Wacława Berenta

Abstract

The paper discusses the function of irony in Wacław Berent’s novel Ozimina, and analyses the concept of polyphonic narration, applied once by Michał Głowiński to examine the novel, to prove that personal narration hardly ever occurs without a parabasis of the author, or is quickly scattered among a multitude of voices and their interplay. Also, the author of the paper argues that Berent's irony resembles Socratic irony and expresses the novelist's doubt whether modern life can ever be comprehended and expressed by an individual. However, the coherence of the text appears to rest on the tragic irony of fate as opposed to the rationalised modern world. Berent seeks to reach his reader at the level of symbolic imagery rather than verbal polyphonic expression of views and personal experience.