Was Tadeusz Miciński Familiar with Taoism? On 'The Ballad of the Seven Sleeping Brothers in China'
Was Tadeusz Miciński Familiar with Taoism? On 'The Ballad of the Seven Sleeping Brothers in China'

Summary/Abstract: This article aims to examine how elements of Taoist philosophy are incorporated into Tadeusz Miciński’s one-act drama 'The Ballad of the Seven Sleeping Brothers in China'. Despite culturally syncretic references to Eastern philosophical systems, the author rarely referred to Chinese traditions of thought in his works. Published posthumously from a manuscript, the ballad is therefore original in the context of Miciński’s oeuvre, both in terms of these references and its dramatic construction. It is interesting to note that the drama was written around 1910, the year when the Polish translation of the 'Daodejing' book was published under the title 'Tao czyli Droga niebios czyli Doktryna najwyższego rozumu: (Lao-Tse i jego nauka)' ['Tao or the Path of Heaven or the Doctrine of the Supreme Reason: (Lao Tzu and His Teachings)']. Taoism is one of many aspects of this work, which constitutes a reflection on the condition of the artist and provides evidence of Tadeusz Miciński’s exploration of Chinese religious-philosophical systems.

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