Pejzaże melancholii. Intelektualne podróże W.G. Sebalda i Andrzeja Stasiuka w perspektywie postkolonialnej
Landscapes of Melancholy: The Intellectual Journeys of W.G. Sebald and Andrzej Stasiuk from a Postcolonial Perspective

Summary/Abstract: This article presents a comparative analysis of two intellectual journeys: The Rings of Saturn: An English Pilgrimage by W.G. Sebald and On the Road to Babadag by Andrzej Stasiuk. The starting point for this discussion is Emil Cioran’s philosophy of history, which situates Sebald’s and Stasiuk’s works within the context of postcolonial and postmemory narratives. The analysis of memory mechanisms takes into account the role of photography in both texts, drawing on Roland Barthes’ Camera Lucida and his concept of punctum as a theoretical framework. The author of the article interprets these works as contemporary realizations of the Romantic wandering, characterized by melancholy and the aestheticization of reality. In Sebald’s and Stasiuk’s prose the experience of landscape is not merely aesthetic but also leads to epiphanies of the past. Based on Pierre Nora’s theory of lieux de mémoire, the article examines how, in both authors’ perspectives, landscape becomes a reflection of their respective visions of history and social concepts.

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