The Absolute Archetype of the Professor

The Multi-genre Structure of Artur Przybysławski’s Rabelaisian University Novels

Abstract

This paper presents an analysis of two novels that constitute the literary oeuvre of Artur Przybysławski, a professor of philosophy, Tibetan language teacher, and translator. In his debut novel Pan Professor (2020) [Mr. Professor], the author outlines a mock intellectual biography of a fictitious academic, allusively named Zenon Ela. Przybysławski then makes Ela the narrator in his subsequent novel, Pana Profesora dziennik sekretny (2022) [Mr. Professor’s Secret Diary], thus creating a unique example of a novel duology. Initial critical responses have revealed confusion regarding the genres of both works, questioning whether they represent (anti)biography or (anti)diary, pamphlet or picaresque novel. This paper argues that the interplay of different genres and specific works fits within the framework of the university novel, characterized by a multi-genre structure and intertextuality. The exploration of various genre schemes and diverse literary and philosophical motifs in Przybyslawski’s university novels assumes gargantuan forms, allowing the novels to be described in Bakhtinian terms as a “carnivalesque laboratory” of multi-genre structures and intertextuality. The fact that F. Rablelais’ Gargantua and Pantagruel serves as the main intertext corresponds with the interpretive perspective adopted in this article and the selected method of analysis.