The specific treatment of time, space, and of characters in W. Berent's Próchno permits to consider the novel as a landmark in the history of p ostm o d e rn is ts novel. Time as the main element of the composition of the novel is the factor shaping the reader's viewpoint — through an extremely skillful employment of the forms creating an illusion of the present. The space where the events take place is confined to three symbolic spheres: the street, the café, and the flat. The stre e t is regarded as alien to the characters in the novel — as opposed to the café or the flat — isolated places unspoiled by the crowd. The final discussion — which leads the characters to self-annihilation — takes place in the isolated space of an apartment. Not all the characters in the novel a re afflicted with the sense of futility resulting from the „inability to create". The Nietzschean philosophy, as formulated by Turkuł — the playwright seems to be a source of energy enabling to overcome one's uselessness and the atmosphere of inertia. In his novel Berent gave each character a chance to speak, uniting all the utterances in one great polyphonic chorus.
JavaScript is turned off in your web browser. Turn it on to take full advantage of this site, then refresh the page.