A Mythology of Populism in Being There by Jerzy Kosiński
Abstract
In the article, the author presents his interpretation of Roland Barthes’s concept of mythology. Based on this concept, which he calls ‘political mythology,’ the author analyses two interconnected (according to literary critics and theorists) novels: Kariera Nikodema Dyzmy (The Career of Nicodemus Dyzma) by Tadeusz Dołęga-Mostowicz and Wystarczy być (Being There) by Jerzy Kosiński. The focus of the analysis is Being There, while Dołęga-Mostowicz’s work is considered as a background for the mythological interpretation of Kosiński’s book. The author discusses the latter in the context of the populist ideology which he associates with democratic reflection. He also describes the emergence of a myth centered around the image of a garden.
Keywords:
myth, politics, fiction, political novel, populismNIEĆ, M. (2020). Mitologia populizmu w Wystarczy być Jerzego Kosińskiego. Ethos. Kwartalnik Instytutu Jana Pawła II KUL, 33(4), 313–335. https://doi.org/10.12887/33-2020-4-132-19
