Po śladach konduktu. O Młodej Polsce za pośrednictwem motywów funeralnych
Following the Cortege. On Young Poland Through Funeral Motives

Summary/Abstract: The text analyses funeral motives used in Young Poland and understood as meaningful elements of burial ceremony. The sources of investigations here are literary texts and social life events (Adam Mickiewicz’s funeral at Wawel). Funeral motives prove to appear in majority of Young Poland’s vital contexts. A sketch of the romantic model of reading the funeral motives (e.g. the motive of Homeland-graveyard) leads to presentation of their Young Poland’s reinterpretations (Wyspiański, Lange). The next stage is loosening the ties between funeral motives and patriotic subject matter. Excluded from this context, funeral motives actualize the theme of "beautiful death" (Tetmajer, W. Korab Brzozowski and S. Korab Brzozowski), supplemented with new explanations, or serve to express a rebellion against death. In sum, the text presents a shift from cultural-historical context of funeral motives to a universal question concerning the type of language to speak about death.

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