“Turn towards Animals” in Gustaw Morcinek’s Prose. A Reconnaissance Cover Image

„Zwrot ku zwierzętom” w prozie Gustawa Morcinka. Rekonesans
“Turn towards Animals” in Gustaw Morcinek’s Prose. A Reconnaissance

Author(s): Lucyna Sadzikowska
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Studies of Literature, Philology, Theory of Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego
Keywords: Gustaw Morcinek; animals; post‑camp literature; animal studies

Summary/Abstract: The article concerns post‑camp literature of Gustaw Morcinek, which presents complex relations between people and animals. Issues presented in the prose of the writer from Karwina can be decoded by means of ecocritical currents. The animal studies perspective makes it possible to go beyond melancholic, anthropocentric theology. Animal eschatology in Morcinek’s writings shows numerous similarities to his reflections on the death of the human behind “barbed wires.” The human has been defined by the writer – who has turned towards animals – not as a creature antithetical to the animal, but as one equal to it. Morcinek makes successful attempts to affirm the animal world by building a positive system of values with the ethical component towards nature.

  • Issue Year: 2017
  • Issue No: 3
  • Page Range: 172-188
  • Page Count: 17
  • Language: Polish