Lapsus calami, czyli „radość czytania” Barańczaka

Abstract

The article presents and interpretation of a Stanislaw Baranczak’s poem Łono przyrody [The Bosom of Nature], seldom discussed by specialists. This seemingly simple poem from the volume Ja wiem, ze to niesluszne [I Know It’s Not Right] (1977) elaborates on the common idiomatic phrase ‘the bosom of nature’ and proves to be a masterful and intricate artistic declaration of existential and political disobedience. The “I” of Baranczak’s poem is something of a lapsus of Nature and History, standing in opposition to the mindless existence and enslavement of the communist state. In this sense he is very similar to the subject of Wislawa Szymborska’s verse. Her poetic oeuvre, translated and discussed on numerous occasions by Baranczak himself, is indeed an important interpretive context here. The article points to the relationships between specific texts by both poets and depicts similarities and differences between their poetic outlooks.