Dwie historie : o "Przemija postać świata" Hanny Malewskiej

Abstract

The author analyses in the novel the relation between two histories: „public” (historia profana) and „secret” (historia sacra, history of the soul). Malewska’s position is connected with a conviction that the latter kind of history is ontically primary. „Secret history”, living in accordance with the moral constitution of man is the only fundament of the durability of functioning on the plane of „public history”. However, the traditional conventions of historical novel result in the presentation of both histories as two independent, collateral plots (history of the state of Theodoric the Great and the Goth-Byzantine war — history of St. Benedict). The simultaneous translation of „secret history” into a hagiographie life coincides with subjecting it to the rigors and laws of „public history”, i.e. the dialectics of destruction and demolition. „Secret history” is present in Malewska’s novel also in the monologues and prayers of protagonists. Its presentation serves then first of all the purpose of soliloquy. In this case, however, self-analysis cannot be turned into self-knowledge and an encounter with God because such a moment would mean the end of all history. The inconsistent presentation of the relation between the two histories in the novel could be one of the reasons of the author’s departure from the traditional formula of historical novel. After Przemija postać świata, Malewska has been looking for literary forms which could more fully express the Presence looming before man (e.g. matahistorical parable).