On Necessary Otherness: MEDItations on Rafał Wojasiñski’s Novella “Stara”

Authors:

Pages: 398-407

Abstract:

The paper presents a critically informed reading of Polish writer Rafał Wojasiñski’s novella “Stara”: the first of his texts to be translated into Bulgarian in 2014. The reading focuses on the novella’s main character in an attempt to shed light on those aspects of his outlook which problematize the Cartesian “Cogito ergo sum” and Christian logocentrism. The analysis takes into account key differences between Polish and Bulgarian interpretations of the text, which are mostly due to the important role of religion in Polish society. Attention is also paid to certain dichotomies, which characterize relations between the nameless central character and his environment, such as logocentrism vs. visiocentrism, humility vs. divine election, and exaltation vs. asceticism.

Keywords:

otherness, saint, exaltation, contemplation, divine election, marginal

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