The city as a theatre. The picture of London in Władysław Stanisław Reymont’s early travel notes Cover Image

Miasto jako teatr. Obraz Londynu we wczesnych zapiskach podróżnych Władysława Stanisława Reymonta
The city as a theatre. The picture of London in Władysław Stanisław Reymont’s early travel notes

Author(s): Marek Kochanowski
Subject(s): Literary Texts
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu w Białymstoku
Keywords: travel notes; city; theatricalization; performance; London; Reymont

Summary/Abstract: Władysław Stanisław Reymont’s ‘Notatki podróżne’ (‘Travel notes’) is the notes from the writer’s journey abroad in 1894. In the present paper the author analyses the ways of organizing semantics of the notes, which are connected with theatricalizing the writer’s own experience and perceiving the reality in the categories adequate for the theatrical stage. The main strategy Reymont employs is the role of the spectator, who presents described cities (Berlin, London, Paris) in the categories adequate for the theatre; the world is a spectacle of various kinds of behaviours and characters taking part in a number of performances. In this way the writer sets his own narration in the framework of the centuries-old, cultural metaphor, which says that the world is a theatre.

  • Issue Year: 2010
  • Issue No: 01
  • Page Range: 185-200
  • Page Count: 16
  • Language: Polish