Small Town, Mysterious House, Great Inventions and the Ideas of the 19th Century. "A Man without Tomorrow" by Jan Zachariasiewicz Cover Image

Małe miasteczko, tajemniczy dom, wielkie wynalazki i idee XIX wieku. „Człowiek bez jutra” Jana Zachariasiewicza
Small Town, Mysterious House, Great Inventions and the Ideas of the 19th Century. "A Man without Tomorrow" by Jan Zachariasiewicz

Author(s): Izabela Poniatowska
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Studies of Literature, Polish Literature
Published by: Towarzystwo Literackie im. Adama Mickiewicza
Keywords: Jan Zachariasiewicz; “Człowiek bez jutra”; popular novel; modernity; realism; 19th century; positivism; civilisation

Summary/Abstract: The article is an analysis of the novel "A Man Without Tomorrow" by Jan Zachariasiewicz and focuses primarily on the affinities of the text with popular literature and realistic poetics. The novel is a peculiar “treatise” on the condition of 19th century man, living in the rapidly developing world ruled by money. In the analysis of the text, the issue of narrative space, which is primarily urban, is also an important matter. Zacharasiewicz, arguing against the positivist optimism, shows in "A Man Without Tomorrow" different facets of the crisis affecting the second half of the 19th century in Central and Eastern Europe, such as political chaos and disturbance of the existing social order, and in relation to the traditional division of roles in the family and the feeling of loss in the money-based civilization.

  • Issue Year: LXVIII/2013
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 191-204
  • Page Count: 14
  • Language: Polish