Poznawczy aspekt gatunku - o ślepcu, niedowidzącym i jednookim (na przykładzie epigramatu i gatunków pokrewnych)

Abstract

The aim of the article is to present the 17th-century conceptualizations of man having problems with the sight, that is a blind, hard of hearing and one-eyed man in an epigram and similar genres. An overview of literary presentations of people who lost the ability to see (well) in a literal and metaphorical sense introduced on the basis of textual realizations of a widely understood epigram, helped to find out how blindness was understood and which features were ascribed to people deprived of the ability to see. The analyses showed that apart from the feature of not understanding one’s own position and old age, hard of hearing people are given the attribute of inventiveness, the love is identified with blindness and biblical orders of plucking out one’s eyes are presented comically, which is typical of a genre standard. However, a special attention is paid to the character of a one-eyed man, once presented as a trustworthy servant, and some other time as a social curiosity.