On the hidden dimension of the romantic heritage

Abstract

This article examines interpretations and theses contained in two books by Ewa Szczeglacka-Pawłowska. The first of the books entitled ‘Homo legens’ Zygmunt Krasiński jako czytelnik polskich poetów [‘Homo legens’ Zygmunt Krasiński as a reader of Polish poets] was devoted to the art of Romantic reading demonstrated on the example of Zygmunt Krasiński and his readings documented in his correspondence. The second book – Romantyzm „brulionowy” [“Draft paper” Romanticism] is dedicated to the stream of Romantic poetry hidden in scattered manuscripts, draft papers, albums. In both books Norwid is just one of the heroes: in the first work, he was portrayed as one of the poets read by Krasiński, and in the second – as an author who wanted to introduce the title “draft paper” dimension of poetry to the official literary canon. The author proves the latter hypothesis, referring to the interpretation of Czarne kwiaty [Black flowers] and Vade-mecum. She also concludes that this was one of the reasons for rejecting the poet’s work by contemporary readers. Although the theses postulated by the author of both books are supported by desk research, Norwid’s thread would require broader exemplification.