Between Myth and Counter-history: Powrót porucznika (The return of the lieutenant) by Jarosław Jakubowski
Abstract
The subject matter of this article is Jarosław Jakubowski’s play Powrót porucznika (The return of the lieutenant), published in 2022. The play addresses, in multifaceted a way, the theme of the human being in the face of real or mystified threats. The article uncovers the intertextual play and literary redefinition of the heroic romantic myth in Powrót porucznika, but also draws on concepts characteristic of the discourse on memory and incorporates Foucault’s notion of counter-history in the interpretation of the relations between myth and history the play evokes. The research goal of the paper is to show the relevance of the drama of contemporary man, stretched between myth and counter-history, in a world that has become chaos in a “destitute time.” The proposed reading of Powrót porucznika, which is among Jakubowski’s latest plays, can become the starting point for more extensive studies of his interesting output.
