Kruczoczarny romantyzm. Motywy czarnoromantyczne w prozie Stefana Grabińskiego

Abstract

The article concerns the implementation of Dark Romantic motifs in short-story writings by Stefan Grabiński, and above all, the motive of madness. In my opinion, Grabiński, as a pioneer of Polish horror who took inspiration from one of the key creators of Dark Romanticism, Edgar Allan Poe, is one of those authors who should be seen, in the first place, as continuators of the tradition of Dark Romanticism. His works comprise motifs so much characteristic of this tradition, such as the motif of doppelgänger („Problemat Czelawy”, „Na tropie” — „On the Trail”), madness („Pożarowisko” — „Fire”, „Spojrzenie” — „Glance”) or demonism (frequently manifesting in the femme fatale characters in stories, such as „W domu Sary” („In the House of Sarah”) or „Kochanka Szamoty” („The Lover of Szamota”). What is relevant in the context of Dark Romanticism is also the recognition of the poetics of the works by Grabiński and placing it in the historical-literary context, while taking into consideration the fact that the prose by Grabiński has a modernist character, despite the fact that the author wrote during the interwar period.