Galician province in view of demonic evil in "Złoty wilk" ("Gold wolf") and "Czarne złoto" ("Black gold")

Abstract

This article addresses two crime novels by Bartłomiej Rychter, Złoty wilk (Gold wolf) and Czarne złoto (Black gold), which are set in the 19th century Galicia, in order to demonstrate how the nature of the setting and events is connected with the characteristic features of the epoch. In both novels, the author combines the social climate typical of the epoch with a crime story. In this way, the story of evil and its demonic nature becomes a pretext for pondering on rationality, rules governing a small community, and the ease with which a social group’s emotions can be manipulated by referring to fear-inducing phenomena. Additionally, what is of great importance is the backwater setting; when its firmly established order is threatened by a demonic force, the latter has to be identified and fought against so that the balance can be restored.