Substance of the city - concerning Julian Tuwim's "Three Poems on a Barber" Cover Image

Substancja miasta - wokół "Trzech wierszy o fryzjerze" Juliana Tuwima
Substance of the city - concerning Julian Tuwim's "Three Poems on a Barber"

Author(s): Agnieszka Czyżak
Subject(s): Polish Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego
Keywords: Julian Tuwim;

Summary/Abstract: The article is a lyrical interpretation of Tuwim's triptych entitled »Three Poems« on a Barber. A careful reading of the texts draws attention to the vision of the city that is not so much a background for the actions of the lyrical hero, as a space clarified through the acts of learning it - superficial, yet based on a small set of popular culture cliches. For the title barber, efforts to tame and appropriate the space are transformed into inventing ways to override their own mundane everyday life. Vegetative, monotonous existence is both the cause and effect of the hero's passivity. The passivity in turn leads to the ultimate loss of the ability of settling in the world.

  • Issue Year: 2014
  • Issue No: 3
  • Page Range: 47-55
  • Page Count: 9
  • Language: Polish