„Obumarłe doświadczenie”. Alegoria, melancholia i fantazmaty libidalne, czyli o kondycji artysty na przykładzie twórczości Charlesa Baudelairea i Kazimierza Przerwy-Tetmajera

Starting from the diagnosis of Walter Benjamin, who first noticed the relationship between allegory and melancholy, contributing significantly to the rehabilitation of this semantic figure, the author of the article draws attention to the imaginary configuration linked to artist’s problems present in the poetry of Charles Baudelaire and Kazimierz Przerwa-Tetmajer. An important part of the configuration is a female statue which is the object of amorous longing of a suffering man. This situation, subjected to allegorical figuration, is the transposition of the complicated relationship artist - art. In the works of both authors, the condition of the artist has been associated with a particular form of solitude, meaning a failure, an injury by the blade of infinity. The perfect shape of the stone statue embodies the idea of absolute beauty. As it is not subject to the process of physical decay, it reflects the metaphysical mystery of eternity, but at the same time it emphasises the mortal nature of human existence and reminds of the inability to achieve the ideal. In this way, it reveals the dual nature of the experience of art which consists of contradictory categories: eternity and impermanence, perfection and earthly failure, blissful pleasure and painful fear, smiles and tears, life and death.