„Lubić to, czego nie ma”. Pani Barbara Niechcicowa – studium rozczarowania
“To like what does not exist”. Barbara Niechcic – a study of disillusion

Summary/Abstract: The psychological conditions of the protagonist of Noce i dnie as depicted in literary criticism are in line with bovarysme. An instance of this similitude is the state of disillusionment, caused by a clash of imagery and reality, as well as fallacies and facts. Mrs Niechcic’s multifaceted frustration with her love life and with her daily grind varies in intensity. The protagonist’s unhappy love casts an irrational shadow on her (poor substitute of) marriage, while the rural milieu, acting as a barrier from “real life” is juxtaposed with the city. Barbara Niechcic is disappointed in everything, as she cannot strike a viable balance between the world of dreams and the challenges of reality; however, her life path is different from that of Flaubert’s protagonist. After a period of erring and throwing tantrums, she mellows down and appreciates the mechanisms guiding her actions; as the novel comes to an end, she is content to merely carry on with her life. The stages of her existence make for the readers’ selfreflections on the complexity of human nature.

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