From the Sketch to the Image and Back. Bolesław Prus’ Under a Heap of Timber Beams Cover Image

Od szkicu do obrazu i z powrotem. „Pod szychtami” Bolesława Prusa
From the Sketch to the Image and Back. Bolesław Prus’ Under a Heap of Timber Beams

Author(s): Ewa Paczoska
Subject(s): Sociology of Culture, Theory of Literature
Published by: Towarzystwo Literackie im. Adama Mickiewicza
Keywords: Bolesław Prus; Under a Heap of Timber Beams (Pod szychtami); realism; representation; experience; sketch; image;

Summary/Abstract: The article is a detailed analysis of the early short story by Boleslaw Prus, who seemingly adapts here the rules of literary “sketch” poetics, popular in the literature of the first half of the nineteenth century. In fact, the writer demonstrates the limitations of this poetics as a means of approaching the truth about the world. This article treats Prus’ short story as an important stage in developing his unique approach to realism. She shows that Prus passes here from “sketch” to “image,” which is a kind of a palimpsestic structure. Inspired by T. Carlyle and H. Taine, Prus creates an image of reality, which is not easily describable. The truth about the world is revealed only by tracking down clues.

  • Issue Year: XLIX/2014
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 85-100
  • Page Count: 16
  • Language: Polish