Saint Genevieve and fauns. Marmur [The Marble] by Jan Kasprowicz a poem about the permanence of truths and human nature

Grzegorz Igliński

doi:10.31648/10.31648/pl.4792

Published: 2020-12-011

No. 8 (2020)

Saint Genevieve and fauns. Marmur [The Marble] by Jan Kasprowicz a poem about the permanence of truths and human nature

Grzegorz Igliński

Prace Literaturoznawcze

Section: Interpretations

https://doi.org/10.31648/10.31648/pl.4792

Abstract

This work explores an analysis and interpretation of the prose poem Marmur [Marble] by Jan Kasprowicz, from the volume O bohaterskim koniu i walącym się domu [On the brave horse and the crumbling house] (1906). The analysis focuses on the experiences of the main character (who is also
the narrator) who first experiences a chance meeting with a pensioner, a supporter of social harmony, and then has a vision of fauns playing around the figure of St Genevieve. The article proposes two interpretations. First: man, irrespective of his views, usually surrenders to his inbred nature, biology, which is represented by the playing fauns. The second interpretation indicates the fauns’ behaviour as a separate solution that invades between the conservative attitudes of the pensioner and the support of the main character for social transformations. It represents an affirmation of a full and joyful life as well as acceptance of variability as a permanent component of history and human fate.

Keywords:

Jan Kasprowicz, St. Genevieve, faun, justice, social harmony

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Igliński, G. (2020). Saint Genevieve and fauns. Marmur [The Marble] by Jan Kasprowicz a poem about the permanence of truths and human nature. Prace Literaturoznawcze, (8), 23–32. https://doi.org/10.31648/10.31648/pl.4792

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