From carefree monkey folk to the wise Mr Pongo. Post-human strategies in the late poetry of Tadeusz Różewicz

Abstract

In the late works of Tadeusz Różewicz, animals are often new allies of the poet in his reflections on the modernity. In contrast to the earlier volumes, in which the animal world was usually synonymous with irrevocable human downfall, the fauna portrayed in Różewicz's more recent works is an unexpected ally of the poet, who is increasingly critical of the post-modern culture and the man who constitutes it. In the animal silence, the poet finds the perverse convergence with his artistic choices, and his ironic play with species difference, in which the humanistic hierarchies are reversed and the incompetence of homo sapiens mercilessly critici- zed, becomes an excuse for further challenge of the achievements of the created civilization. It is probably why in the poem Pan Pongo ("Mr. Pongo") from cóż z tego że we śnie ("So What If in a Dream"), not only is the inherent silence of animals or their behavioral dissimilarity to the human species appreciated, but certain creatures (orangutan) are located on a par with the old "voices" of figures of literature, art, and philosophy most important for these works. Such confrontations with the animalistic prove the poet's excellent knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses of animal-related post-humanistic theories (human-animal studies). However, they also demonstrate Różewicz's irreducible skepticism, who, even when fully appreciating the animal existence, invariably remains at his "own" denaturalized position, permanently advocating the human, and only human being.