O Wigiliach Stanisława Przybyszewskiego

Stanisław Przybyszewski’s Vigils is a prose poem written originally in German; its publication in 1895 was followed by a revised edition in 1901. A Polish translation, by Przybyszewski himself, entitled Z cyklu Wigilii was published in 1899. This interpretation of the Vigils not only takes a closer look at its origins and history, but also analyzes the differences between the two German versions and makes a comparison of the German and Polish texts. The comparison reveals that the most flagrant and blasphemous passages have been left out of the Polish version. Moreover, the omission of the original conclusion changes the meaning of the story. The article quotes the opinions of the first readers of the Vigils, the German and Polish reviewers, and goes on to present its own interpretation of the poem. What it actually dramatizes is the failure to find a formula that would integrate the protean, irrational and entropic reality the story. In effect, the project of establishing a connection between the act of creation and transcendental knowledge through a total, mystical union of male and female, soul and soma, turns out to be an illusion