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

Most read articles by the same author(s)

1 2 > >>

Download files

PDF

Citation rules

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

Cited by / Share

References

Sources
Google Scholar

Kasprowicz Jan (1984), Marmur [Marble], in: Pisma zebrane [Collected Writings], Jan Józef Lipski and Roman Loth (eds), Vol. 4: Utwory literackie 4 [Literary works 4], Roman Loth (ed.), Kraków – Wrocław: 493–497.
Google Scholar

References
Google Scholar

Igliński Grzegorz (2018), Faun – Pan – satyr. Wyobraźnia fauniczna w poezji i sztuce Młodej Polski [Faun – Pan – Satyr. Satiric Imagination in Young Poland Poetry and Art], Olsztyn.
Google Scholar

Jakóbczyk Jan (1992), Z różnych perspektyw… zbieżne widoki (L. S. Liciński i J. Kasprowicz) [From Different Perspectives… Converging Views (L. S. Liciński and
Google Scholar

J. Kasprowicz)], in: O tym, jak Młoda Polska posiwiała. Proza młodopolska wobec rewolucji 1905 roku [On How Young Poland Got Grey Hair. Young Poland Prose and the Revolution of 1905], Katowice: 79–93.
Google Scholar

Księga imion i świętych [Book of Names and Saints] (1997), Henryk Fros, Franciszek Sowa (eds), Vol. 2: D–G, Kraków.
Google Scholar

Lipski Jan Józef (1975), Twórczość Jana Kasprowicza w latach 1891–1906 [Works of Jan Kasprowicz, 1891–1906], Warszawa.
Google Scholar

Niewęgłowski Wiesław Aleksander (1999), Leksykon świętych [Lexicon of Saints], 2nd ed., Warszawa.
Google Scholar

Proudhon Pierre Joseph (1974), Wybór pism [Selected Writings], Jakub Litwin (ed.), introduction by Jan Garewicz, annotated by Marek Wykurz, Vol. 2, Warszawa.
Google Scholar

Ratuszna Hanna (2005), „Wrażeniowy odbiór rzeczywistości”. O cyklu poematów Jana Kasprowicza „O bohaterskim koniu i walącym się domie” jako miejscu spotkania sztuk [“An Impressionistic Take on Reality”. On the Poetic Series “On the Brave Horse and the Crumbling House” by Jan Kasprowicz as a Meeting Place
Google Scholar

of the Arts], in: Semiotyka cyklu. Cykl w muzyce, plastyce i literaturze [Semiotics of a Series. Series in Music, Art, and Literature], Mieczysława Demska-Trębacz, Krystyna Jakowska and Radosław Sioma (eds), Białystok: 225–242.
Google Scholar

Rosner Katarzyna (1962), Struktura i ideologia prozy Kasprowicza „O bohaterskim koniu i walącym się domie” [Structure and Ideology of Jan Kasprowicz’s Prose “On the Brave Horse and the Crumbling House”], „Przegląd Humanistyczny”, No. 2: 107–122.
Google Scholar

Sluhovsky Moshe (1998), Patroness of Paris. Rituals of Devotion in Early Modern France, Leiden – New York – Köln.
Google Scholar

Sorel Georges (1999), Reflections of Violence, Jeremy Jennings (ed.), Cambridge.
Crossref
Google Scholar

Sorel Georges (2014), Rozważania o przemocy [Reflections on Violence], Marek J. Mosakowski (transl.), Warszawa.
Google Scholar

Swastek Józef, Kuźmak Krystyna, Zwierzchowska Grażyna (1989), Genowefa, Genowefa z Paryża [Genevieve, Genevieve of Paris], in: Encyklopedia katolicka [Catholic
Google Scholar

Encyclopedia], Vol. 5: Fabbri – Górzyński, Ludomir Bieńkowski et al. (eds), Lublin: 967–968.
Google Scholar

Tatarkiewicz Władysław (1988), Historia filozofii [History of Philosophy], Vol. 3:
Google Scholar

Filozofia XIX wieku i współczesna [19th Century and Contemporary Philosophy], 8th ed., Warszawa.
Google Scholar

Zabawa Krystyna (1999), „ Kalejdoskop m yśli, w rażeń i o brazów” – m łodopolskie odmiany krótkiego poematu prozą [“A Caleidoscope of Thoughts, Impression, and Images” – Young Poland’s Varieties of Short Prose Poem], Kraków.
Google Scholar