„PAN MA WYGLĄDAĆ NIEAPETYCZNIE”
“YOU HAVE TO LOOK UNAPPEALING”

THE DISGUSTIGNESS OF "PIOTRUŚ" ("LITTLE PETER")

Author(s): Aleksandra Naróg
Subject(s): Studies of Literature, Polish Literature, Theory of Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: Ahmed; Kristeva; Lipski; Piotruś; repulsion
Summary/Abstract: The article analyses the experience of disgustingness in Leo Lipski’s "Piotruś". This micronovel is interpreted as a multi-level narrative about repulsion, constitutive of perceiving the world and the importance of physicality, sexuality and identity. "Piotruś" records the functioning of affection: the representations of tastes, smells or physiological functions are simultaneously marked by repulsion and fascination. Using the images of excretion, bodily secretions or vomiting, Lipski attempts to describe the crisis and trauma of subjectivity. The affection becomes a way to describe and feel not explicitly expressed phantasms. Repulsion is also present in Lipski’s descriptions of Jewish rituals and customs. The main hero in Piotruś is “neither subject nor object”, and contact with him makes other characters – and the readers - review their previous beliefs about various aspects of human life. The theoretical context for the proposed analysis is provided by the works of Julia Kristeva, Mary Douglas and Sara Ahmed.

• Details
• Contents