Pan Karol i Pan Optikon
Mr. Charles and Mr. Opticon

Summary/Abstract: The relationship between Mr. Charles and the space of his abode is considered analogousto that between Rodyon Raskolnikov and his bachelor apartment. Both cases call for a resolution whether the habitational space has any impact on the character. An analysisof the fictional house’s layout makes it possible to distinguish a particular figure of thebed that, according to Yi-Fu Tuan’s conception of the object denoting place, can bemodified into different landscape forms. Dynamic changes of space not only seem totake control over the apathetic, exhausted man, but also visibly influence his physicality.The author focuses on the aquatic and airless atmosphere of Mr. Charles’s house to connectits oppressive influence with the lodger’s mental condition by using symbolic explanationsin terms of water and dust. The apartment preserved by still water becomessimilar to an aquarium. In such an environment, the only possible form of existence is imitation of life resulting from a constant and acute feeling of imprisonment. The paper describes the position of the main character, referring to Michel Foucault’s concept of the Panopticon and suggests the use of this model to approach space in Schulz’s text.

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