Joseph Conrad's "The Duel" and Eustachy Rylski's "Warunek", or the text and its spectre

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to analyze the spectral presence of J. Conrad’s short story “The Duel” in Eustachy Rylski’s novel Warunek [The Condition] employing the methodology of hauntology. In the present paper the term hauntology will be used as an umbrella concept for the investigation of the interpretative possibilities offered by the figure of spectre and phantom text present in literary narratives. Analysing the process of haunting or in other words, the process of the text being re-visited by some other older story, new/hidden meaning arises. In this way we can trace the action of opening of the text so that something from the past might enter and shutter its original structure.