A Second Creation of the World: The Concept of Home, as reconstructed on the basis of Stanisław Vincenz’s Literary Output

Sylwia IWANEK

Katedra Literatury XX Wieku, Wydział Nauk Humanistycznych, Uniwersytet Kardynała Stefana Wyszyńskiego, ul. Dewajtis 5, 01-815 Warsaw, Poland , Poland

Abstract

The author addresses the idea of home, as it is expressed in the writings of Stanisław Vincenz, in particular in the first volume of his tetralogy Na wysokiej połoninie [On the High Uplands: Sagas, Songs, Tales and Legends of the Carpathians]. The aim of the article is to show how the image of the house (and, at the same time, of home) is part of the idea of the world conceived of as a family, where the human being is not alienated but rather deeply connected to the whole universe. The reflection on home provides the basis for a discussion of the place of the human being in the world. The protagonists of Vincenz’s prose never consider themselves as independent and unconditioned subjects but realize that their lives are part of the history of the world and of humankind; they are also aware that the natural order belongs to the supernatural order of the Cosmos, which is seen as the work of the Creator. The images of ‘house’ and ‘home’ created by Vincenz may be considered also as a mirror for the contemporary technological society.

Keywords:

house, home, family, transcendence, Plato, the Holy, myth, the natural, the supernatural, Nietzsche