Remarks on a few motifs in the works by Norwid and Baudelaire

Abstrakt

The article is a proposal to read the writings of Norwid and Baudelaire as works going beyond Romanticism, although they arise from it, as precursors of modernity, affected – as W. Benjamin wrote – by the inhospitable experience of the era of great industry. The comparative analysis focuses on the diagnosis of the present as demonstrated in the texts of both poets, associated with urban phenomena, crowd, flâneurie and alienation. The author exposes the techniques of description of these phenomena by both writers and various reactions to them. She proves that Baudelaire identifies himself with his city, accepts its imperfections, although he also sees in it a threat to the autonomy of an individual, while Norwid keeps a distance allowing for moral evaluation. The article brings out these similarities and differences, showing the writers’ attitude towards urbanization and, generally, to modernization processes as ambivalent, ambiguous and demanding to confront both the city and oneself.