POSITIVISTIC SPLEENS - ELIZA ORZESZKOWA'S 'MELANCHOLY ONES' (Pozytywistyczne spleeny - 'Melancholicy' Elizy Orzeszkowej)

• Authors: Sniedziewski Piotr
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

The sketch is an interpretation of a somewhat forgotten Eliza Orzeszkowa's collection 'Melancholy Ones' published in 1896. The texts contained in this collection clearly refer to the issues (the four humors theory, image of Saturn, acedia) and metaphors (a soap-bubble) traditionally linked with melancholy. They are the evidence of the crisis of identity, and of an attempt to undermine the optimistic assumptions of the positivistic world view. The collapse results, among others, from the doubts about scientism, and from the questioning of sensualism and empiricism as methods of understanding the world. The collection is also an unflinching proposal to reject the rules of positivistic prose, since Orzeszkowa resigns from the auctorial narration and introduces to her stories elements of confession and monologue. It seems, however, that the crisis shown by Orzeszkowa is overcome by the resort to hope which, paradoxically, is an effect of the same tensions and uncertainty as melancholia.

Keywords

EN

ORZESZKOWA ELIZA ('MELANCHOLY ONES')

Discipline

• PHILOLOGY_&_LINGUISTICS: PHILOLOGY & LINGUISTICS

• Publisher: Instytut Badań Literackich PAN
• Journal: Pamiętnik Literacki
• Year: 2009
• Volume: 100
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 53-71
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Sniedziewski Piotr

• Piotr Sniedziewski, Uniwersytet im. Adama MIckiewicza, ul. H. Wieniawskiego 1, 61-712 Poznan, Poland

Identifiers

CEJSH db identifier

09PLAAAA07083