Imaginarium symboliczne Wacława Potockiego Ogród nie plewiony

Autorzy:

• Andrzej Borkowski

Streszczenie

An assumption of the book is to direct the reader to analyses and interpretations, which in case of The Unweeded Garden still have a promising cognitive approach. Literary output of Waclaw Potocki is intellectually complex, but a closer examination of his writings shows an intersection of many literary traditions. The aim, however, is not to present an overall semantic reconstruction of the collection, because it seems to be neither possible nor necessary. Therefore, it is given a detailed description of an extensive collection of his poetry, which reveals the poet sensitivity to a symbolic language, as well as images and themes, which originate from tradition and have been renewed for ages. Undoubtedly, it is an essential theme of The Unweeded Garden, which discloses fragility of the poet stereotype. Sometimes, literature specialists and readers can see the poet only as a loudly laughing Sarmatian writer of facetious verses. An initial part of the book called Symbolic Narrations touches on an issue of Waclaw Potocki’s symbolic imagination, which is an important problem for the whole work. The first collection of texts, which are closely analysed in the book, refers to The Bible: narrations originate from The Book of Exodus, The Book of Judges and the New Testament. The second range of literary work is genetically connected with fable writing, especially with the Aesopean fable, the third one is related to the famous collection of Gesta Romanorum, the fourth one refers to legends, while the last group of poetry is composed with stories deeply rooted in day-to-day life, which emerge from the poet existential imagination. An emphasis must be laid on the fact that all the stories are characterized by a complex semantic structure and reveal symbolic meanings. The second part of the book is called The Topic of Potocki: traditions, innovations and symbolic language and it is an analysis of images and themes, which the poet derived from literary and cultural traditions, against a wide comparative background. It should be noticed that the author of The Moralia frequently and extremely creatively uses the rich heritage of the previous epochs. Apart from that, a range of allegorical and symbolical presentations that arise from nature are studied. The initial chapter of the second part of the book shows various usages of literary image of the book The Unweeded Garden. The image of ‘nature book’, in which a secret record of the Creator’s words is depicted, appears in the collection. The record demands special skills and abilities from a human being. The book is also mentioned more than once in the context of apparent wisdom, the sacral sphere and erotism. In the succeeding chapter the topic of a man from microcosm in the before-mentioned literary work of the piedmont poet is presented against a background of an extensive literary tradition. It is emphasized that the image has its sources in Plato’s dialogues, then it is paid attention to the idea of a man from a small world, which was especially popular in the Middle Ages, but it appeared in Renaissance and Baroque literature, as well. Waclaw Potocki developed the image in various ways, and particularly pointed to the mental aspect of human reality, dilemmas and tense moments in life, which are connected with moral values. The topic of the world as a spectacle, which was frequently studied by historians of old literature, is also analysed. History and origin of the spectacle is mentioned briefly and it is underlined that the 17th century especially took a liking for such a picture of human condition. Potocki developed theatricalness of human life in two areas: experimental and extrasensory. The first one refers to various ‘chances’, experiences and events set in human ordinary life, whereas the second one is related to the divine sphere, which shows a man as a peculiar toy in God’s hands. A collection of poetry that shows the topos of Christ as a divine doctor is analysed, as well. Moreover, the genesis of the topos and the collection of literary texts from the Middle Ages and Renaissance, in which the picture reveals, are presented. The book states that in the collection Saint Mary occasionally appears as a healer beside the topos of health-giving Jesus. A symbolic language of the piedmont poet seems to be especially impressive in The Unweeded Garden. On the one hand the language is derived from the extensive literary tradition, on the other it shows a considerably existential experience of the piedmont poet. The presentations of plants and animals frequently refer to the inner life of an individual, reveal the world of human values, as well as they point to the end of human days, the posthumous reality and the sexual sphere. Furthermore, works that directly regard to human life become the subject of a detailed analysis in the book – the texts in the second part of The Unweeded Garden form a peculiar series. It must be noticed that in the triviality a profound reflection of the author of The Week of the World Creation on passing of human life on earth and on life fragility is disclosed: flimsiness of human life on earth is depicted by the Creator, who uses the repertoire of cultural signs,which come from tradition, and simultaneously reveals an exceptionally picturesque invention. The book ends with a chapter that is dedicated to the topic of navigation in The Unweeded Garden and The Moralia – such an outlined subject of the studies discloses a promising cognitive perspective. The studies show that both collections are richly provided with nautical presentations, which are, however, submitted to different purposes. The use of nautical metaphors in The Moralia appears mainly with reference to autobiographical plots and the public sphere, while in The Unweeded Garden it is also revealed in poetry of anecdotic and paraenetic aspects; Waclaw Potocki applies the presentations in the context of both life passing on earth and posthumous life of a human being.