"Dziwne spotkania" w literaturze współczesnej, czyli o żywotności anagnoryzmu
Streszczenie
".. a turn from unconsciousness to knowledge” - as one could briefly define an
anagnorism using Aristotle's words, was regarded in the ancient tradition as one of the
three basic elements of plot, both in a tragedy and an epic: the essay presented here is
devoted both to the history of the theory of the term and its presence in master works
of the genre - from the ancient epic and tragedy to the romance and the novel. In
historical considerations one can distinguish two basic kinds of anagnorism - one is
connected with the tragic peripeteia, which leads the characters towards tragedy, the
other one is connected with a happy and peripateis. Both forms can be found in contemporary
novels, as the anagnorism is not only a forgotten element of the plot, but, as
the analysed examples of myths and folk tales let us observe, it is a necessary element
of our imagination. Contemporary recognitions are ruled by similar laws as the folk tale
and mythical ones, which makes the novels employing them take on a mythical or folk
tale character. The mythical novel has been studied widely, while the folk tale novel is
not rich in theory, although it deserves it. Mostly because it perfectly fills in the empty
space between "high" and "low" literature. The former presents problems, the latter
presents their easy solutions in the continuous victory of good over evil. The third one,
the folk tale one, tames the word and suggests an escape into fun and games and the
marvelous originating straight the romance.