Em dash and meaning-related subtleties in the writing of Eliza Orzeszkowa

Abstract

This article is devoted to the em dash in the works of Eliza Orzeszkowa, which was introduced into the texts as a peculiar, multi-meaning means of expression – a sign used by the writer to convey in a wordless way meanings, especially emotional ones, which cannot be expressed in words. While working on a new edition of Orzeszkowa’s autobiographical texts (Wspomnienia, Autobiografia w listach, Pamiętnik i Zwierzenia) it turned out that the em dash, introduced in special meaning functions other than the ordinary, commonly accepted ones (of course, Orzeszkowa also uses such em dashes), is a very important sign in all of her writing when its matter, whether literary or strictly private, has a character that can be described as confessional. That is, when it concerns the inner life: meditations, memories, feelings, personal struggles with universal existential problems, and all these inner contents are presented in statu nascendi.