"Filozof i prostak" „z cesarskiego miasta Szang-hai”. Miejsce wczesnej humoreski w twórczości Bolesława Prusa
"Philosopher and Simpleton" from “the Imperial City of Shang-hai”. The Status of Early Humorous Tales in the Works of Bolesław Prus

Summary/Abstract: The article presents an analysis of Bolesław Prus’s satirical microstory "Filozof i prostak" ["Philosopher and Simpleton"] from the collection "To i owo, właściwie zaś: ani to, ani owo, czyli 48 powiastek dla pełnoletnich dzieci" ["This and That, or Rather, Neither One Nor the Other: 48 Tales for Children of Age"]. It discusses the manner in which China, as the setting of the story, is portrayed, in line with the nineteenth-century knowledge and awareness of the far-away country. The article addresses the question of the appropriateness of choosing China as a backdrop for events, given its geographical and cultural distance from the perspective of a Polish reader. In addition to embodying a significant concept in Prus’s entire body of work, namely humour understood as a precise and sophisticated literary tool, the work bears the characteristics of a parable. As shall be demonstrated, certain features that are present in this early work evolved and returned in a fuller form in Prus’s later works.

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