A Few Remarks on the Category of Touch in B. Prus’s Lalka (The Doll)

Abstract

The article attempts to analyze the role that in Bolesław Prus's Lalka is played by the tactile contact, that is one of the aspects of non-verbal communication. Considering the functions of this kind of message from the perspective of the interactive situations in which the protagonists of the novel take part, one pays a special attention to the emotions generated or expressed in this way.

The novel contains signals documenting a number of episodes in which touch is involved, sometimes ones that are of significance to the plot and that almost always concentrate the attention of the protagonists who watch each other carefully.

The text is an attempt at defining the role and function of the gestures of touching the partner's hand in an interactive situation, short and rare episodes of touching oneself, forced tactile contacts and substitute gestures – meeting the need of another person's intimacy. Determining the borders of the intimacy sphere touch becomes part of the relation between the protagonists, but also an element of a refined intrigue and flirt. Tactile contact is also sometimes taken as a peculiar sign of threat, and it is often associated with a closeness one does not want and with transgressing the existing social norms.

The text also deals with the problem of the presence of an individual in a crowd. Tactile contact and breaking the interactive distance is sometimes a determinant of that presence. In Lalka a crowd is often a dangerous, strict community condemning an individual, and presence among others is connected with the feeling of loneliness and alienation.

The article interprets Lalka as a record of yearning for understanding and experiencing intimacy, considering some tactile episodes as significant facts that are crucial for the plot of the novel.