Title variants
Scopophobia (Fear of Being Watched) and a Dream about Shamelessness – Leśmian’s Phenomenology of Shame
Languages of publication
Abstracts
In this paper, on the material of Bolesław Leśmian’s poetic texts, the phenomenon of a fearful feeling of being watched by someone/something is analysed. This phenomenon is known as scopophobia, related to Medusa complex or Truman syndrome, which is a way by Poet to disclose a horror due to a sense of being trapped by Being? Nothingness? Absolute? A mysterious Spectator? An ancient fright that we are just damselflies in someone’s follicle; sometimes a paranoid fear of surveillance, of being manipulated. He is close in his assessments to Foucault’s consciousness expressed by the equation: visibility is a trap. However, Leśmian’s scopophobia as a denial of one’s reflection in the eye — it’s also a suicide, choice of death, nothingness, a non–existence. It is an attempt of the Poet to escape from incapacitation of control over an individual, a strategy of resistance chosen by Leśmian’s queers, who would otherwise be affected by aggression, or exclusion.
Year
Issue
Pages
217-227
Physical description
Contributors
author
- Instytut Badań Literackich PAN
References
Document Type
Publication order reference
Identifiers
YADDA identifier
bwmeta1.element.desklight-5fd19167-8306-4578-a98d-0c7c821e9249