Dolls, mirrors, obituaries : the motif of photograph in Polish prose in 1863-1939

The article Dolls, Mirrors, Obituaries analyses the motif of photograph in Polish prose in 1863-1939. The author presents three contexts in which the “prop” is found. Most frequently a photograph has an important function in the protagonists’ love affairs who, seeing the photograph, fall in love or become jealous. Perception of photography carries also an amount of data on the world which gradually reduce and ultimately lead to the recourse to the observed subject. The third context is connected with the tanatological experience of the protagonists: a photo of the deceased may console or conversely - strengthen the belief in fragility of every life