W poszukiwaniu „twórczej psyche Słowackiego”
In Search of “Słowacki’s Creative Psyche”

The Memory of Słowacki and Mechanisms of Cultural Memory in the Works of Słowacki According to Cezary Jellenta

Author(s): Joanna Dobrowolska
Subject(s): Studies of Literature, Polish Literature, Philology
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: Cezary Jellenta; cultural memory; modernistic literary criticism; romantic tradition; Słowacki-wizard
Summary/Abstract: The main subject of my article is the reception of Słowacki’s literary heritage by Cezary Jellenta, one of the most important figures of the Young Poland’s literary criticism. The basic source texts for me are: "Juliusz Słowacki dzisiaj: szkic konturowy", 1900 (“Juliusz Słowacki Today: A Contour Sketch”), "Druid Juliusz Słowacki", 1911 and the article "Fizjognomia polityczna Juliusza Słowackiego", „Młodość” 1901, no. VI (“The Political Physiognomy of Juliusz Słowacki”). The crucial problem for my interpretation is the memory issue analysed in two aspects. On the one hand, it is the memory discourse on Słowacki, as well as the strategies and mechanisms of its creation used by modernist criticism. On the other hand, I pointed the figures of cultural memory in Jellenta’s studies, especially archetypes (the title metaphore of Słowacki as a wizard) and myths of the beginning. I tried to define their influence on the reinterpretation of Słowacki’s works and make the topics more appropriate for the 20th century point of view. I also thought about their importance for the creation of the Polish national identity in the times when our country did not exist. Jellenta’s literary research is placed in the context of studies of the romantic genealogy of modernist criticism. In my interpretation I refer to three conceptions: Carl Gustav Jung’s of archetypes, Maurice Halbwachs’s of social memory and Jan and Aleida Assmann’s of cultural memory.

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