Between Sensual Corporeality and Pure Spirituality: The Spectrum of Female Roles, as seen in Wacław Berent’s Ozimina

Grażyna LEGUTKO

Zakład Literatury Polskiej, Instytut Literaturoznawstwa i Językoznawstwa, Wydział Humanistyczny, Uniwersytet Jana Kochanowskiego w Kielcach, ul. Uniwersytecka 17, 25-406 Kielce, Poland , Poland

Abstract

The essay is dedicated to the portrayal of women in Wacław Berent’s novel Ozimina [“Winter Crop”]. Berent uses the strategy of polyphonic narrative, which involves subjectivization of the setting and confrontation of various viewpoints. The writer perceives women mainly through the prism of their biological conditions. The portraits of his female characters depict them as lustful bodies, unaware of the deeper essence of human existence. However, in the novel, the sensual female corporeality, which refers to the cultural stereotype of the women as a primordial dark creature, is confronted with the spiritual sphere. From the perspective of prehistoric religions (such as the pagan cult of the mother goddess), Berent’s female characters can be seen as symbols of the eternal mystery of life, identical with the source of fertility and creativity.

Keywords:

Wacław Berent, Ozimina [“Winter Crops”], female corporeality, literature of the Young Poland movement