Geologiczna tajemnica człowieka: Gustaw Herling-Grudziński i "Wielka choroba Europy"
The Geological Mystery of Man: Gustaw Herling-Grudziński and 'The Great Disease of Europe'

Summary/Abstract: Questions concerning the state of the European spirit and the place of the individual in the turbulent currents of the twentieth-century history are central to the work of Gustaw Herling-Grudziński. This article aims to trace the successive stages of the Polish writer’s literary and philosophical journey, with a particular focus on his intellectual relationship with Benedetto Croce. At the centre of this discussion is 'The Great Disease of Europe' – a fictitious book that serves as the thematic axis of the short story 'The Cemetery Wanderer'. The interwoven themes of the crisis of civilisation, the metaphysical and historical nature of evil, the pathology of madness and the sickness that afflicts Europe form the main threads of this analysis. Alongside these concerns, the notion of memory takes on particular significance; through the lens of Varlam Shalamov, it emerges as both an instrument of resistance and a path to uncovering the deepest, “geological” mysteries of human existence.

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