| dc.description.abstract | In the article, composed of two parts with the titles Spektakl modernistyczny czy seans
spirytystyczny? (A modernist spectacle or a spiritistic seance?) and Dlaczego Słowacki niszczy
konterfekt księcia Józefa? (Why does Słowacki destroy the portrait o f Prince Józef/), presents
a contextual interpretation of Jan Lcchoń’s poem Duch na seansie (A Ghost at a Seance). The
author questions the opinion, which was widespread in literary criticism, that Lechoń together
with other members of the Skamander group discredited Romantic poetry and national
mythology on the threshold of independence. The analysis of the poem made in the article
leads to the conclusion that the poet fought stereotypes deeply rooted in public opinion, which
in the eyes of the general public were also reinforced by Slowacki’s poetry. Thus, Słowacki
appears at the seance to demystify a belief in the messianic, necrotic and patriotic tone of
his poetry, in the bard-creator of the national Gospel, who is endowed with the power to
discover absolute truths, and in the „master of the word” as well as the „creator of artistic
beauty” as well as the only generally-accepted opinion.
Optimistic signs of revival have dominated the symbols of suffering, the talkativeness has
been replaced by silence, the word by the iconoclastic deed, the mystical heat by ironic
distance. The symbols, images, references to literary texts and other signes of culture help to
create a revalued portrait of Słowacki and mould a myth of gray heroism, which is a complete
contrast to the myth of the „colourful uhlan” . The destruction of the portrait of Prince Józef
Poniatowski and a reference to Piłsudski found in the last line of Karmazynowy poemat (The
Crimson Poem) are the signs of the ideological declaration of the young poet, who referring
to great Romantic tradition, discovers new and new meanings. | pl_PL |
