Dwie elegie o końcu świata
Two essays about the end of the world

Summary/Abstract: Two essays, Ada-Kaleh, Ada-Kaleh by Mircea Cărtărescu and Między magią a zniszczeniem (Between magic and destruction) by Fatos Lubonji are the starting point of the considerations on the decay. People are not the only victims of communist dictators of Romania and Albania. By destroying the old and building the new, they complete the work of destruction of the landscape and, thus, the memory. The oriental island on the Donau river, sunk during the construction of a power plant, is for Cărtărescu the mythological Atlantis, which has survived as a myth against Ceauşescu’s will. Old Albanian villages from Lubonja’s essay survived the times of Hoxha in a damaged form, however now they are threatened by wildly developing capitalism. The author indicates similarities between both essays. They are connected not only by the communist apprehension of the reality but also by the elegiac and melancholic tone of the essayists – people who are aware that the decay is an inevitable consequence of each existence.

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