Problem kryzysu humanizmu w "Soli ziemi" Józefa Wittlina

Abstract

The purpose of this article was to examine Sól ziemi as one of the novels that has participated in the interwar discussion on the crisis of European culture. This can be demonstrated by an analysis of the construction of main character of the novel − Piotr Niewiadomski, who is without a doubt the emblematic figure of the condition of contemporary humanism − and his eclectic world−view. Study shows that − as a literary amalgam of a modern human agency and a simpleton with parareligious world−outlook − he is not only a victim of modern myths (with the myth of war at the front), but also their unconscious co−author, who can only define himself as a part of a dehumanizing technocratic civilization (that has got its the end−product in the world war). By showing how the language of humanism erodes − while being used to help individual to find himself in the incoherent, “disenchanted" world − Józef Wittlin points out responsibility of European culture. There has been low interest in describing that context − Sól ziemi was generally understood to be pure and simple anti−civilization novel, directed straight by the experience of the First World War − so the author hopes to fill up an important gap in the reception of one of the bests polish novels of the XX century.