A dispute over the philosophy of clothes. Cyprian Norwid versus Thomas Carlyle

Karol Samsel

doi:10.18290/sn.2020.38-5en

Karol Samsel University of Warsaw

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18290/sn.2020.38-5en

Keywords: Cyprian Norwid, Thomas Carlyle, Sartor Resartus, Promethidion, Lord Singelworth’s Secret

Abstract

Cyprian Norwid’s attitude to the philosophy of clothes developed by Thomas Carlyle in Sartor Resartus may indeed be perceived only as an object of speculation, but undoubtedly the author of Vade-mecum must have been familiar with him (as confirmed in his lectures on Juliusz Słowacki). This article outlines two areas of potential intertextual crossroads between Norwid’s literary motives and the philosophy of life espoused by the legendary Carlyle: one is delimited by the poem Promethidion and a passage from the dialogue Wiesław, which may constitute a polemic with Carlyle’s sartorial philosophy, while another is delineated by Lord Singelworth’s Secret, where the figure and attitude of Singelworth may reveal the eccentricities of Carlyle himself, which is corroborated after Carlyle’s death in 1881, when Norwid began to write his so-called Italian novelettes.

Author Biography

Karol Samsel, University of Warsaw

Karol Samsel is assistant professor in the Institute of Polish Literature at the Faculty of Polish Studies at the University of Warsaw, where he is head of the Study Unit for the History of Drama in the years 1795-1939. He published in Prace Filologiczne, Pamiętnik Literacki, Studia Norwidiana, and the Yearbook of Conrad Studies (Poland). He is also author of the monograph Norwid – Conrad. Epika w perspektywie modernizmu (Warsaw 2015) and Inwalida intencji. Studia o Norwidzie (Warszawa 2017)

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