„Gdy ja tu pełzam, słaby i ponury...” — Cyprian Norwid w "Domu św. Kazimierza" Ignacego Gogolewskiego

Abstrakt

“AND WHILE I’M CRAWLING, WEAK AND DREARY...” CYPRIAN NORWID IN ST CASIMIR’S HOME BY IGNACY GOGOLEWSKI

The subject of this study is the film Dom św. Kazimierza [St Casimir’s Home] 1983 directed by Ignacy Gogolewski who also plays the role of the protagonist. The movie is contrasted with biographical facts concerning the poet’s final years 1877–1883 spent in an almshouse in Ivry-Sur-Seine just outside Paris.
Scarce in means of artistic expression, the picture focuses on Norwid’s place of residence. It shows the drama of the forlorn poet and his relationships with compatriots — the conflicted, embittered veterans of national uprisings and ex-soldiers who, like himself, are doomed to vegetate in the foreign land. In spite of that, he tries to find a way to overcome this situation in his creative work, in interactions with his friends, and in carriage “escapes” to Paris.

Translated by Magdalena Jonca