U źródeł Mickiewiczowskich wyobrażeń i metamorfoz zła (1817–1819)
At the Sources of Mickiewicz’s Images and Metamorphoses of Evil (1817–1819)

Summary/Abstract: The paper takes up an interpretation of earliest literary pieces and letters by Adam Mickiewicz (1798–1855) from the years 1817–1819, when the poet studied at Vilnius University and taught at a Kaunas school. Satirical and mock-heroic poems from that time (“Mieszko, książę Nowogródka” [“Mieszko, Prince of Novogrudok”], “Pani Aniela” [“Lady Aniela”], “Dziewica z Orleanu” [“The Maid of Orleans”], “Kartofla” [“Potato”]) are adaptations of Voltaire’s plots adjusted to Polish conditions. The interpreter asks about the mode in which young Mickiewicz pictures the historical, human nature, and existential (misfortune) evil. The adaptations from Voltaire are compared with a tale of “Żywila” [“Zhivila”] and letters written in a diction of despair. A combination of a private thread with a historical thread of evil experienced by a community devoid of freedom is a characteristic feature of Mickiewicz’s image of evil.

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