“Rags on fire are floating around”. On the deprecated world of things in Norwid’s writing Cover Image

“Rags on fire are floating around”. On the deprecated world of things in Norwid’s writing
“Rags on fire are floating around”. On the deprecated world of things in Norwid’s writing

Author(s): Krzysztof Trybuś
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Studies of Literature, Polish Literature
Published by: Towarzystwo Naukowe KUL & Katolicki Uniwersytet Lubelski Jana Pawła II
Keywords: Cyprian Norwid; Second French Empire; confederate cap; coat; rags; Bible; memory; Benjamin; Heidegger; art

Summary/Abstract: The article is an attempt at describing and defining the role and function of depreciated things in Norwid’s poetry. The author points out that their material imperfection is the stigma of the contemporary world. He also points out that the destroyed things-symbols bearing the hallmarks of allegory are the carriers of cultural memory that is an integral part of everyday life of Norwid’s heroes. The main concern of this analysis involves the examination of different types of memory in the poet’s works, their disturbance in the process of perception of things. The author refers, among others, to Heidegger’s views on the “failure” of things in their existence. In his reflections, he contextually evokes the works by Mickiewicz and Baudelaire.

  • Issue Year: 2017
  • Issue No: 35EV
  • Page Range: 43-58
  • Page Count: 16
  • Language: English