‘Educated against his will’ – the motif of library in Too Loud a Solitude by Bohumil Hrabal Cover Image

„Wykształcony wbrew swej woli” − motyw biblioteki w {Zbyt głośnej samotności} Bohumila Hrabala
‘Educated against his will’ – the motif of library in Too Loud a Solitude by Bohumil Hrabal

Author(s): Joanna Królak
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Studies of Literature
Published by: Wydział Polonistyki Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: biblioteka; książka; taoizm; mit Syzyfa; Schopenhauer; library; book; Taoism; myth of Sisyphus; Schopenhauer

Summary/Abstract: The article deals with an reinterpretation of the motif of the library and librarian in the novel {Too Loud a Solitude} by Bohumil Hrabal. The library in this piece is not a repository of knowledge, but a collection of waste paper, just garbage pile for books. The protagonist, digging in this trash of culture, is trying to commit an act of artistic creation through the destruction of books. His reading strategies allow him to take on various figures − a Taoist scholar, Sisyphus, Faust, etc. A key reading for him, however, turns out to be Schopenhauer, from whom he learns that it is love and compassion which are the most important, and the state of absolute cognition is attained through an aesthetic attitude.

  • Issue Year: 2/2018
  • Issue No: 8 (11)
  • Page Range: 181-193
  • Page Count: 13
  • Language: Polish