Where Is Piotr Niewiadomski Headed? The Protagonist of The Salt of the Earth in a Mythic-Ritual Context
Where Is Piotr Niewiadomski Headed? The Protagonist of The Salt of the Earth in a Mythic-Ritual Context

Summary/Abstract: The author returns to The Salt of the Earth conceived in the mythic-ritual context. She presents characteristic elements of the plot that allow us to interpret the fortunes of the main character through the prism of the initiation ritual. However, what she proposes differs from previous interpretations of the novel. She concludes that by using the poetics of myth and the initiation model the author not only demythologizes war, but also presents a diagnosis of the situation of European civilization on the eve of the cataclysm of World War II. Wittlin also passes judgment on fascination with the primeval myth, as well as on simplistic concepts of the return to a state of unblemished nature, which was supposed to be an antidote to the civilizational threats of the time.

• Details
• Contents