The column in Place Vendôme and the fleeting form of ancient Rome in the writings of Cyprian Norwid
Abstract
The article discusses the image of a triumphal column in Norwid’s poems “Vendôme,” “Odpowiedź do Włoch (Fraszka),” and Szczesna. The inspiration to enquire about its function and symbolic power comes from Hegel’s lectures on aesthetics and the following passage from Epimenides: “The many columns […] many stray columns sought an edifice…” In Norwid’s thought, eternal glory is not meant for those who stand atop a triumphal column since such monuments can easily turn into dust, as confirmed by the fate of other monuments such as those of ancient leaders and Napoleon, but for the one who comes close to the “Pre-Eternal” upon physical death. The “power” is thus a value irrevocably tied to the triumphal column but has to rise to another dimension, other than that of physical power. This article recalls the idea of Paris as the “new Rome,” which was revived in the nineteenth century.
References
ALVEY N.M., Strange Truths in Undiscovered Lands: Shelley’s Poetic Development and Romantic Geography, Toronto 2009.
BATTLES D., The Medieval Tradition of Thebes: History and Narrative in the Roman de Thèbes, Boccaccio, Chaucer, and Lydgate, London 2004.
CHŁĘDOWSKI K., Szkice z Włoch, “Przegląd Polski” 8, vol. 1 (July 1873).
COMAY R., Mourning Sickness: Hegel and the French Revolution. Cultural Memory in the Present, Stanford 2010.
COUSIN J., Napoléon Ier dans l’oeuvre de Victor Hugo avant l’exil, [in:] Mélanges de littérature, philologie et histoire offerts à Louis Arnould, Genève 1973.
DOKURNO Z., Przyroda w lirykach Norwida, “Zeszyty Naukowe UMK: Nauki humanistycznospołeczne” 1957, vol. 2, pp. 105-142.
HEGEL G.W.F., Esthétique: cahier de notes inédit de Victor Cousin, ed. A.P. Olivier, Paris 2005.
HUGO V., OEuvres complètes. Poésie, vols. 1-2, Paris 1834-1837.
JANION M., ŻMIGRODZKA M., Romantyzm i historia, Warszawa 1978.
KADYJEWSKA A., Norwidowskie rozmowy umarłych – dialog postaci i epok, [in:] Liryka Cypriana Norwida, ed. P. Chlebowski, Toruń-Lublin 2003.
KARAMUCKA M., ‘Upiorny’ Rzym Norwida, [in:] Od Syberii po Amerykę. Geografia wyobrażona polskich romantyków, eds. A. Kołos, T. Ewertowski, K. Szmid, Poznań 2013.
KASPERSKI E., Dyskursy romantyków. Norwid i inni, Warszawa 2003.
LABOURIEU T., La Colonne Vendôme, roman historique, Paris 1872.
LAVERNHE-GROSSET A., ‘Cela vaudra-t-il la peine d’être lu ? Cela sera-t-il lu ?’, [in:] Envois et dédicaces, ed. Gérard Farasse, Villeneuve d’Ascq 2010.
LEBOEUF F., Dialogue entre la colonne Vendôme et la colonne de Juillet, Paris 1843.
LISIECKA A., Z problemów historyzmu Cypriana Norwida: na marginesie tomu 7 ‘Pism’, “Pamiętnik Literacki” 50 (1959), no. 2, pp. 331-421.
LYSZCZYNA J., Dumanie na placu Vendôme. Norwid wobec romantycznego kultu Napoleona, [in:] Norwid – spotkania kultur, ed. E. Chlebowska, Lublin 2015.
Norwidowskie fraszki (?), ed. J. Leociak, Warszawa 1996.
ROWELL D., Paris: The “New Rome” of Napoleon I, London-New York 2012.
SKILTON D., Tourists at the ruins of London. The Metropolis and the Struggle for Empire, "Cercles" 17 (2007), pp. 93-119.
STAËL-HOLSTEIN G. de, Corinne; or, Italy, trans. I. Hill, London 1833. Online: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/52077/52077-h/52077-h.htm (accessed 20 January 2021).
STEFANOWSKA Z., Norwid a poemat dygresyjny, [in:] IDEM, Strona romantyków. Studia o Norwidzie, Lublin 1993.
TROYES C. de, Cligès, Berlin 2006.
WOŹNIEWSKA-DZIAŁAK M., Poematy narracyjne Cypriana Norwida, Kraków 2014.
WYKA K., Cyprian Norwid: poeta i sztukmistrz, Kraków 1948.
Copyright (c) 2020 Studia Norwidiana
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
