„Kiedy umarłem, dzień był jak ze szkła…”. Fantazja o życiu po śmierci w powieści Jerzego Pietrkiewicza "The Quick and the Dead" / "Gdy odpadają łuski ciała"

Abstract

Abstract

The aim of the article is to present the fifth English novel by the Polish émigré writer Jerzy Pietrkiewicz, The Quick and the Dead. It was published in London in 1961, whereas the Polish translation appeared in 1986, entitled Gdy odpadają łuski ciała. The main motive of the novel is the author's vision of death and man’s further existence. Touching upon the eschatological issues, Pietrkiewicz presented the fate of human beings in the posthumous reality. The community of ghosts actually exists on earth and reflects typical human relationships, penetrating the empirically available reality – only their physical form is different. Each of the characters outlined by the writer speaks in a style that corresponds to their social background or former profession, follows their own emotions and manipulations of others, and despite supernatural powers – may also be awkward and helpless. The novel, although illustrating the presence of ghosts on earth, differs significantly from the traditional presentations of supernatural phenomena in literary works, based on evoking the feelings of horror and disgust in the reader. The author parodied the role of the ghost in literature, as a result of which the story of the posthumous adventures of Harold Nash, getting to know the world from the very beginning, becomes a universal representation of the turn of human life.

Keywords: Jerzy Pietrkiewicz, The Quick and the Dead, ghosts.