Czas, przestrzeń, dramatis personae w Próchnie Wacława Berenta. O nowatorstwie powieści

Abstract

The specific treatment of time, space, and of characters in W. Berent's Próchno permits to consider the novel as a landmark in the history of p ostm o d e rn is ts novel. Time as the main element of the composition of the novel is the factor shaping the reader's viewpoint — through an extremely skillful employment of the forms creating an illusion of the present. The space where the events take place is confined to three symbolic spheres: the street, the café, and the flat. The stre e t is regarded as alien to the characters in the novel — as opposed to the café or the flat — isolated places unspoiled by the crowd. The final discussion — which leads the characters to self-annihilation — takes place in the isolated space of an apartment. Not all the characters in the novel a re afflicted with the sense of futility resulting from the „inability to create". The Nietzschean philosophy, as formulated by Turkuł — the playwright seems to be a source of energy enabling to overcome one's uselessness and the atmosphere of inertia. In his novel Berent gave each character a chance to speak, uniting all the utterances in one great polyphonic chorus.