Od tytułu do "Epilogu" : studia i szkce o "Panu Tadeuszu"

Abstract

On account of the many years’ relationships with the masterpieces of the greatest artists, with works which have already been subjected to scientiflc reflections many times, the historical- literary research sometimes brings to the interpreter the unique joy of those petite findings which the newest methodological currents as well as careful readings in the older, slightly forgotten today, or rarely revoked intellectual premises and inspirations of our predecessors make possible. Observation of the carefully colaborated elements of delimitation in Pm Tadeusz leads to those petite findings. The observation is not free from textological reflection and that attitude, which is a continuation of my earlier interests, dominates in the first chapters of the Book: in the first chapter From „Szlachcic" to „Pan Tadeusz". On Yarimts of the Text of Adam Mickiewicz's Masterpiece and Their Conseąuences for Interpretation and in the second chapter On 'Arguments' or 'Contents' Preceding Each Book. Similarly, the fourth chapter „Teraz nie wiem, czy moda i nas starych zmienia, / Czy młodzież lepsza [...]" The Old and the Young in „Pm Tadeusz", the fifth chapter On Age o f the Narrator o f „Pm Tadeusz" as well as the sixth chapter The Characters' Speeches in the Light o f Rhetoric which have been thought out as an attempt at seeing the work in the perspective marked by the classical rhetoric at the tum of the 19* century — the second of Pan Tadeusz's reception — leads to interesting conclusions revealing the secrets of Adam Mickiewicz’s poetic techniąues. Unexpectedly, the examination of the elements of delimitation or strictly rhetorical problems results in explanations of quite obvious, though left over in previous research, matters: chapter three On Proper Names o f the Characters of Secondary Importance. The Holy Ancestors of Gerwazy and Protazy. The problems discussed in the book have often reąuired an evocation of wider contexts of the poet’s literary output from the time preceding the period of creation of Pan Tadeusz. Moreover, sometimes the title was promising too much, while only some of the indicated issues have been analysed carefully, it tumed out at the stage of the finał composition of the volume. It has found its expression in bracketed subtitles of some of the chapters, chapter three: With a Digression on the Titles o f the Books, chapter four: Concerning the Context of „Oda do młodości", chapter five: Poetic Charms o f Bracketed Digressions. To complete the frame of the structure of the book (which was prompted by the composition of the examined masterpiece), the problems of delimitation, textology, concerning reception as well as the editor’s art and supported by the achievements of the French genetic criticism, havebeen revisited after the chapters devoted mainly to the rhetorical aspects: chapter seven Troubles with the „Epilog" of „Pan Tadeusz". Pre-text, Text and Myth. I also could not imagine that a book which has entirely been devoted to Mickiewicz’s epos, a book with no ambition to become a monograph (the current crisis of historical-literary monographs is a separate issue), would lack my own reflection on the work of my late lamented Master; therefore: Appendix: Professor Jerzy Nowajy — Scholar, Critic o f Editions and Editor of „Pan Tadeusz". The majority of the chapters of the book constitute significantly enlarged versions of the sketches already published in volumes of essays delivered at intemational and local conferences organised on the occasion of Adam Mickiewicz Year and earlier. Further Information on that has been included in the Bibliographical Note.