Szkic do analizy tematycznej twórczości Tadeusza Różewicza

When analyzing Rôzewicz's works — using the category of motif and that of theme as a set of motifs materialized in an object — one can state that the author is preoccupied with two successive themes: that of Deluge and that of Inferno. The former is to be regarded as a literary transformation of the war experience and at the same time as an attempt at a rebuilding of thę post-apocalyptic world (the motifs of: death arid deformation of the body, world devoid of values, purifying function of the material and bodily elements — a kind of catharsis). As in the myths about the Flood a coexistence of the motifs belonging both to the tragic and the optimistic visions can be noticed. The latter theme — which is a literary picture of the present life — seems to be a materialization of two motifs only: 1) wbrld devoid of values, and 2) grotesque deformation of the body. The shift of the Deluge theme to the Inferno theme finds its expression in the materialization of the optimistic motif in the tragic vision, as well as in a change of viewpoint of the speaking subject: formerly he was seeking to identify himself with the world, now he feels compelled to accept the identity. The material and bodily element, which originally was considered beneficial, now becomes grotesque and evil.