Przez rozkosz ku dojrzałości O Przygodach Sindbada Żeglarza Bolesława Leśmiana jako inicjacyjnej księdze przyjemności
Through Pleasure toward Maturity On The Adventures of Sindbad the Sailor by Bolesław Leśmian as an Initiation Book of Pleasure

Author(s): Joanna Iżykowska
Subject(s): Studies of Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego
Summary/Abstract: The main purpose of this article is to present the issue of the poetics of pleasure in The Adventures of Sindbad the Sailor, a well-known volume of fairy tales by Bolesław Leśmian. The collection of fantastical stories, seemingly directed only to the child audience, does not fit into the traditional model of axiology of children’s fairy tales. The title character consistently makes morally dubious decisions, guided by the principle of experiencing the fullness of pleasure rather than caution. As the story develops, Sindbad acquaints himself with a variety of shades of pleasure, derived, among other things, from the erotic sphere (when the young man engages in romances with successive fairy-tale princesses), aesthetic sphere (when he discovers new lands and experiences the beauty of the world), and intellectual sphere (which is associated with the pleasure of communion with literature, as well as the status of Sinbad, being both a reader and author). In this regard, it can be observed that in the prose of Leśmian, the hedonistic philosophy does not acquire a pejorative tone. The detailed interpretation of selected episodes shows how the sensations from discovering pleasure translate into emotional maturation of Leśmian’s hero, finally transforming the bored-with-life ladies’ man into a sensible family man.

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