The Self in a Crystal Sphere: Juliusz Słowacki’s Concept of the Subject (in his works from the 1830’

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to characterise the key existential metaphors used by Juliusz Słowacki in his works from the 1830’s. Looking at the images used by the author of Kordian, one can observe an original concept of a Romantic subject, his identity, ways of experiencing the world and himself, as well as the relations between the “self ”, the reality, and other people. The motifs which are present in Słowacki’s works from that time (the image of a man on “top of the world”, motifs of the dream of life, pondering in front of a grave, being enclosed in a crystal sphere, journey without a destination) focus only on a typically Romantic image of human greatness and loneliness in relation to the infinite universum. They also depict the world as an incomprehensible and hostile area governed by mechanic laws, a kingdom of inanimate matter. These motifs are coupled with metaphors expressing the wish to restore the cosmic order and “enchanting” the reality again by means of emotion and poetic imagination.

Keywords

• Juliusz Słowacki|
•  |Polish Romanticism|
•  |Existential Metaphors|
•  |The Romantic “Self”|
•  |romantyzm w Polsce|
•  |metafory egzystencji|
•  |romantyczne „ja”