Przemiana w dniu św. Marcina. Wacław Potocki o kobietach i wilczycach

The paper touches upon the transformation described in Nowy cud w podgórskich krajach (A new wonder in the piedmont regions), a poem by Wacław Potocki, a 17th century poet: a roe deer turns into a wolf during the hunt on St. Martin’s Day (November 11). In traditional agrarian culture, it was the time of abundance, gluttony and fun − the autumn carnival, when such a transformation can be explained by the laws of the world upside down. In the poem, this has been juxtaposed with the metamorphosis of women into she-wolves. The Latin word lupa (‘a she-wolf’), meaning ‘a prostitute’, refers to the nature of women and their power to transform town houses into lupanars; this metamorphosis is so curious, as it happens permanently, outside the period of carnival licentiousness. It is related to the concept, embraced by Potocki, of the degeneration of the world, in which women’s extraordinary sexual appetites lead to a humiliating metamorphosis of men into deer.