Orphans and objects. Materiality of longing and anxiety in Bronka Nowicka’s To Feed the Stone
Orphans and objects. Materiality of longing and anxiety in Bronka Nowicka’s To Feed the Stone
Author(s): Michał KisielSubject(s): Polish Literature
Published by: Uniwersytet Jana Długosza w Częstochowie
Keywords: Bronka Nowicka; materiality; longing; intimacy; anxiety;
Summary/Abstract: The purpose of this article is to analyse how longing emanates through the inter- connections of intimacy and materiality in Bronka Nowicka’s To Feed the Stone. In the light of selected materialist theories and psychoanalysis, I trace how the recurring figure of a comb exhibits Thing-Power, creating new material and semiotic connections. It disturbs the seem- ingly fixed dyads of presence/absence, present/past, passivity/activity, or life/death. Moreo- ver, it marks the work of longing and anxiety as this object accompanies the child-narrator during her journey in search of touch through an uncanny world.
Journal: Transfer. Reception studies
- Issue Year: 8/2023
- Issue No: 1
- Page Range: 111-123
- Page Count: 13
- Language: English