Witkacy nie istnieje. Uwagi na temat motywu sobowtóra w pisarstwie Stanisława Ignacego Witkiewicza
Witkacy Does Not Exist. On the Figure of Double in Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz’s Works

Summary/Abstract: The literary work of Stanisław I. Witkiewicz (Witkacy), whose world career began in the 1950s, is treated today in many aspects as a precursory in relation to postmodernism. In his dramas and novels, this is manifested in the creation of characters who are internally broken up, act like human machines full of glitches and are unable to control their own drives. These motifs are also reflected in the writer’s broken identity, which is torn apart by contradictions (“knots”) and constantly doubles itself. In my article I demonstrate to what extent this obsession with his own double is rooted in the instrumental treatment of Witkacy by his father, who wanted to see in him a perfect artistic embodiment of himself. The whole of Witkacy’s work, considered from this perspective, is a rebellion against his father, expressed in the (futile) desperate attempts to break away from being his better copy, his double.

• Details
• Contents