PL
The sketch is an analysis of the short stories of Gustaw Herling-Grudziński from the viewpoint of the subject matter of the malum. The author proves that the writer’s attitude to evil shifted from the perception of the malum in its moral aspect, or – referencing the terminology of Gottfried Leibniz – considering of evil as an effect of actions of a human endowed with freedom of choice, to a perception of evil in the metaphysical aspect, in which its sources are considered to be superhuman, difficult to grasp and often irrational. According to the author of the sketch, a turning point for the change of the way the writer perceived some ethical and metaphysical concepts was the story The Exorcist’s Brief Confession, constituting a point of departure for Herling’s interest in the issue of evil as a power overcoming a human and making him a victim.