Auf den Spuren Frank Wedekinds. Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewiczs 622 Stürze des Bungo, oder Das dämonische Weib (622 upadki Bunga czyli Demoni czna kobieta)

Abstract

Following in Frank Wedekind’s footsteps: The 622 Downfalls of Bungo, or The Demonic Woman by Stanislaw Ignacy Witkiewicz The work of Stanislaw Ignacy Witkiewicz (1885–1939), the leading representative of Polish avant-garde literature in the first half of the 20th century, only became known outside Poland as late as the 1960s. The role of Konstanty Puzyna was pivotal in the popularisation of Witkiewicz’s work. Puzyna, a renowned specialist in the fields of literature and theatre, highlighted the relationship of Witkiewicz’s oeuvre to European tradition, apparent especially in his intertextual approach. There are numerous sources of inspiration. However, although many of them have been thoroughly analysed, the influence of Frank Wedekind’s work – often treated as self-evident – has hitherto not been the subject of literary research. The article discusses this issue, presenting an analogy between the “double tragedy” of Wedekind’s Lulu (Earth Spirit, 1895 / Pandora’s Box, 1904), and Witkiewicz’s novel The 622 Downfalls of Bungo, or the Demonic Woman. Witkiewicz in an inventive, parodic way adapts the topos of the demonic woman, as well as other of Wedekind’s figures and motifs, into the world he creates, forging their partial deconstruction and metamorphosis.