Intendent Sforka
Intendant Sforka

Author(s): Aleksander Nawarecki
Subject(s): Studies of Literature, Polish Literature, 19th Century, Theory of Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: Słowacki; Horsztyński; Sforka; esteemology; reinterpretation
Summary/Abstract: The article is an attempt at a provocative reinterpretation of 'Horsztyński'. Słowacki’s drama is dominated by three characters – Szczęsny (the author’s porte-parole), his father, Hetman Kossakowski (a historical figure) and Horsztyński (the title figure), but the new reading of the work makes the main protagonist a supporting character – the intendant Sforka. The court servant constantly, obtrusively and finally frantically repeats the key question of the work – ‘What am I?’ The linguistic analysis of Sforka’s name plays an important role in the analysis of this personage of the drama, as comic as it is tragic. Another of the poet’s linguistic jokes – the concept of ‘esteemology’, deconstructing etymology as a science, and at the same time suggesting an understanding of 'Horsztyński' as a drama about the desire for ‘esteem’ (glory and fame) – has also been treated with seriousness.

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