Archiwum

The extralinguistic elements of a letter such as its quality, shape, colour, ornamentation, the smell of the envelope as well as the postmarks actively participate in the extra-mural communication of Orzeszkowa's protagonists. They form the "second" voice of a letter, the voice of strong expressive values. They often become the conveyer of senses and implications impossible to be uttered by means of written words.
With a surprising ingeniousness Orzeszkowa applies to her work various sensual properties - the optical, the tactile, the aromatic and the auditory ones - of the instruments serving as a means of correspondence. In that way she sets in motion the non-verbal code that, once deciphered, allows to notice the specificity of the epistolary communication and the complex interpersonal relations, both co-creating the ideological content of that prose.

The article concerns the reception of the works by F. Karpiński at the end of the 19th century. It focuses on presenting Introduction by P. Chmielowski to Pisma wierszem i prozą by Karpiński, published in 1896. The opinions expressed by the leading critic of positivism were important for the reception of the works by Karpiński as his literary rank rose since then. The critic focuses mainly on the poet's psychological portrayal recreated on the basis of the poet's biography and adds his opinions on the poet's works. The national character of Karpiński's writing was exposed.

In Studies and impressions Antoni Lange, from among the texts and the voices of the most illustrious creators and thinkers, brings out the portrait of art and phenomenon that belongs to it. Exploration brings the writer to the statement, that art can be at a time the blessing and the artist's curse. It is the source of eternal despair and eternal nostalgia for unfulfilled ideal. The life of genius runs among Promethean heroism and the incessant feeling of strangeness in the face of himself and the world.

The article shows how Gabriela Zapolska creates a space of a city in her novel Kaśka Kariatyda. The fundamental relations in the city Lviv, where the heroine's drama is set, are dislike and hostility. Interpersonal dialogue characterizes many different structures (the voices are strangled, the space between people - between man and woman - is the inhuman arena of hate). Zapolska tries to create impressions by the naturalistic and impressionistic poetics which describe the city in its changes. The urban text about the city, which is the necropolia (the space of death), the seat of evil, symbolizes two paradoxical spaces of interpretation: woman defloration (by the man) and the city defloration (which is the symbol of a woman) by Kaśka. The city turns women in Zapolska's novel into a figurine, a puppet. Zapolska uses in her novel the elements of sensory view, detailed description, musical narration, transposition of sensations, poetic of suppression, absence in word. The paradoxical phenomenon of specific urban space is described by the woman's perspective (it is the symbolic imprisonment of a woman in the space of patriarchal principles).

The article presents the work of K. Makuszyński as a theatrical critic of the Lviv newspaper "Słowo Polskie" from 1905 to 1909. Makuszyński's reviews weren't only journalistic notes on the plays performed on the Lviv stage. They very often resembled a tale, an essay of a polemic character or literary analysis of dramatic texts. Makuszyński's theatrical criticism had an intellectual character and fostered the development of the Polish theatre in Lviv. His press reviews constitute an important chapter in the history of Polish literature and Polish theatre.

The article tries to decipher and describe the significance of the Revolution 1905 in the light of Lviv's monthly magazine "Promień" [The Ray]. "Promień" was created by young people related to the socialism. It was popular for its agitator's activities. Journalists had new conceptions concerning education, history, society. My aim was also to feature evolution of the Ray' s title. All articles, proclamations showed not only the way of social and cultural changes at the beginning of the 20th century, but also the influence of history on the press.

Pogrom [The Pogrom] and Sztorm [The Storm], closing the cycle of philosophical dramas Spirits by Aleksander Świętochowski, make sui generis a test of the writer's reckoning with revolution. Revolution is shown in dramas as a multiheaded Hydra's figure, gifted with nothing but destructive power. Confirming the evolutionary profile of historical changes, Świętochowski shows, that all mass movements threaten first of all the individual - being, in his opinion, the only subject and spiritus movens of every social transformation.

The text has been devoted to literary continuation, romantic tradition of "the compatriots long night-talks" by the Young Poland writers: Wyspiański, Żeromski and Berent. Wesele [Wedding], similarly to Dziady [Forefathers], became the repository of the symbols and themes merely a few years after having been written, and offered other writers the opportunity of diversified reference. Common drama knowledge guaranteed proper interpreting of those allusions by the reader. An interesting contamination of two traditions, that is the romantic one, associated with Dziady and the Young Poland one, identified with Wesele, was attempted by Wyspiański's contemporaries: Żeromski in Róża [The Rose] and Berent in Ozimina [Winter Corn]. Both works contain the symbols of the national masterpieces which had acquired topicality. Those symbols render the atmosphere of the year 1905 very well, and serve as means of expressing the opinion on the society of that time. Inspiration by Wyspiański's literary output is not restricted to characterological relationship of the characters and their similar philosophy of life. This inspiration also refers to the sphere of the novel symbolism, just to mention the Negro puppet in Ozimina or the title-role of Róża written by Żeromski.

The article presents an analysis of literary oeuvre and journalistic production of Gustaw Daniłowski - Polish novelist, poet, journalist and political activist (active in the Polish Socialist Party, soldier in Pilsudski's Legion and in Polish Military Organization). The interpretation has a historical and a literary character. The author considers only one aspect of G. Daniłowski's literary oeuvre: the political aspect (problems of the idea of independence). The analysis includes among others an allegorical poem titled Na wyspie (1900), stories with contemporary settings on themes of independence and revolution: Z minionych dni (1901) and Jaskółka (1907), short stories titled W miłości i boju (1910), collections of journalistic articles: Fragmenty (1914), Bandyci z PPS (1924) and reportages: Wrażenia więzienne (1908), Z jednego źródła (1919).

The article concentrates on the motif of poetry and a poet which is very often discussed in the studies on Leśmian. It uses the reviews of the four poems: Do śpiewaka, Łąka, Ciało me, wklęte w korowód istnienia, and Lubię szeptać ci słowa, które nic nie znaczą. One of the topics discussed here is the analogy between God and a poet, which is expressed in the ability to create and love. The article also considers the topic of omnipresence of the rhythm which connects a man (a poet) with the world and the topic of the relationship between perception and expression and the necessity of merging the mind with intuition in the creative process. The article emphasises typical of Leśmian merging of form and content by the use of different language techniques.

This paper deals with the great significance of silence in Kafka's prose. Silence appears to be the most characteristic background for the events in his writings as well as important element of the atmosphere in the novel. I try to analyze "silence" on many levels: as special means of expression or the component of literary form. Also the deeper metaphorical sense of "silence" is being discovered. It could be understood as lack of God's response or human loneliness . Through the "silence" is being shown the musical value of Kafka's prose.

The author follows the pictures of Berlin in Polish literature in order to show some interesting motifs, problems and ways of presenting the capital, that as a symbol of the Prussian/German power has always aroused in its Polish observers fierce emotions. The visions of Berlin, its citizens as well as the visitors form a kind of panorama, reaching from the obvious political and historical context to anthropology, zoology and soteriology; from hatred to adoration. Therefore they conform the thesis according to which a journey is merely a pretext for diagnosing and seeking ways of further actions (often such as a national or spiritual liberation). Especially important seems the motif of metamorphosis the visitors undergo in Berlin (mostly a sudden inner change, but sometimes also a change in their appearance).

The analysis concerns a few Polish novels written at the end of 1980s and 1990s in which the image of the People's Republic of Poland (PRL) became the crucial element of the structure. The novels represent the convention which touches upon the theme of maturing in the sphere of social roles and responsibilities. The first, and the biggest part of the text is devoted to the analysis of Izabela Filipiak's Absolute Amnesia (Absolutna amnezja). Using methods of feminist critics, the author analyzes various aspects of women's lives entangled in paradoxes of Polish history and socio-cultural mechanisms of oppression, which deprive women of the right to decide about themselves. The process of acquiring female identity is associated with decoding the social context. The subsequent parts of the text reconstruct the novels' image of family and school, both of which are the crucial elements of the PRL's reality responsible for deforming young people's consciousness. The exemplifying material was provided by the following novels: Possible Dreams (Możliwe sny) by Jolanta Stefko, Weiser Dawidek by P. Huelle, The Enemy's Head (Glowa wroga) by Augustyn Baran.