Lotem albatrosa — Barton Fink jako artysta modernistyczny

Abstrakt

AS THE ALBATROSS FLIES — BARTON FINK AS A MODERNIST

The article is an attempt to present the titular character of the Coen brothers’ Barton Fink, viewed through the prism of the modernist paradigm. The author describes an internal conflict of an individualist writer, caused by the limitations imposed by Hollywood with the application of the concept of signifi cation systems. A modernist is defined in the original context of the term — the period of modernism. This is done on the basis of 19th-century psychology essays Z psychologii jednostki twórczej by Stanisław Przybyszewski and Forpoczty ewolucyi psychicznej i troglodyci by Wacław Nałkowski as well as on Charles Baudelaire’s The Albatross, to which numerous concealed references are found in the Coens’ film. The article is concluded with an attempt to interpret the film in respect of the modernist’s profile and the symbolism of an albatross.

Translated by Krzysztof Kucharczyk