„NA POCZĄTKU BYŁO SŁOWO...” PARADOKS SŁOWA I EGZYSTENCJI W WYBRANYCH OPOWIADANIACH JELENY DOŁGOPIAT
“IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD…”THE PARADOX OF THE WORD AND EXISTENCE IN SELECTED SHORT STORIES BY ELENA DOLGOPIAT

Summary/Abstract: The problem of human existence in the contemporary world seems to be one of the most crucial issues, according to the contemporary writer from Moscow, Elena Dolgopiat. In almost all of her short stories, human existence is an indefinite value, uncertain and transitory. The characters are lost among memories of the past (which might have never existed), fiction and reality (of which they can never be sure). Moving around between various time and space levels as well as searching for their own place in the world makes them tenants of the world, who can never feel at home there. Being lost develops permanent lack of intimacy, they can always be overheard or peeped. Such vision of human existence corresponds to the postmodernist way of world perception as a text, also proved by the specific attitude of Dolgopiat towards the meaning of the word. In the analyzed texts, it becomes a means of creation of one’s own or someone else’s existence and has the special power to change the man into a demiurge. On the other hand, the word makes the man vulnerable, imprisoning him within the space of a specific fate, which he cannot abandon, as it is impossible to take back the word. It may also make interpersonal relationships difficult, lead to misunderstandings or evoke the strong fear of responsibility connected with saying out the word. The article is an attempt to illustrate the paradoxical relation between the word and human existence, exemplified by selected short stories by Elena Dolgopiat.

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