Wizerunek ironisty w Topieli Stanisława Przybyszewskiego

Abstract

Text of the article presents irony as one of the most important, yet omitted, keys of interpretation in the study of Stanislaw Przybyszewski's works. First, the paper discusses types of irony present in the writer's drama titled „Topiel”. Then, the figure of the drama's main ironist, Robert Skalski, is presented along with various ways the other characters, victims of his irony, react to him (laughter, self-irony, withdrawal, escapism). The author proves that Skalski, the aforementioned villain, not only negates and destroys the values of the petty-bourgeois world, but also, through the irony he uses, devalues language of those who inhabit the milieu. Such construction of the work enables the character to be treated as a predecessor of postmodern ironic subjectivity.