A Sketch for Zbigniew Herbert's Erotic (that never was?)

Abstract

The article is a successful attempt at filling a serious „gap” in Herbertology. The lack in Herbert's poetry of directly expressed erotic motifs, or even of more broadly understood love themes is treated by the author as an „absence” that is significant. The ambiguity of the question-answer in the title organises the argument that consistently aims at revealing the deep senses in Herbert's poetry, which are generally unnoticed. Assuming the role of a „suspicious critic” the author asks about the „rules of shifting erotica to other thematic areas, about symbolic ciphers and transformations”. Degrading the myth of the woman in Herbert's poetry turns out to be a point of departure for a peculiar transgression of femininity from the position of anima to the archetypal magna mater, understood as the maternal „sources” of existence.