Pamięć miasta utraconego. Misteryjna semantyka Wilna w "Dziadach" Adama Mickiewicza
Memory of a City Lost: The Mystery-Play Semantics of Vilnius in Adam Mickiewicz’s 'Forefathers’ Eve'

Author(s): Maria Kalinowska
Subject(s): Christian Theology and Religion, Cultural history, Studies of Literature, Polish Literature, Theory of Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: Adam Mickiewicz; Forefathers’ Eve; Mystery-play; Geopoetics; Romantic drama
Summary/Abstract: There is an indissoluble connection between Part III of 'Forefathers’ Eve' and Vilnius where the drama unfolds. 'Forefathers’ Eve' is a text of the city, just as the city is a text of Forefathers’ Eve. These ties between the city and Mickiewicz’s drama pose a hermeneutic and interpretational challenge for scholars studying the Romantic period. The author of this paper invokes various interpretations of Vilnius, including semiotics of the city and geopoetics. Special inspiration for this research comes from Mieczysław Limanowski’s works in cultural studies. A geology professor and co-founder of the Reduta Theatre, he used the category of “mystery-play spirit” to present an interpretation of the text on Vilnius that harmonises with the vision of Vilnius in Part III of 'Forefathers’ Eve'. As in the historical mystery-play theatre, events unfold simultaneously here, taking place in different places at the same time, but are bound by the linear development of the main theme: the fate of the prisoners and their martyrdom, and, in a theatrical sense, the participation of the audience/witnesses who are aware of events on the city’s stage.

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