The Perspective of the Observer and the Observed in the Prose of Zdzisław Beksiński

Abstract

The subject of this article is to present the perspective of the observer and the observed in selected Opowiadania by Zdzisław Beksiński created between 1963 and 1965 (published posthumously). The writing attempts of one of the most important representatives of twentieth- and twenty-first-century Polish painting still remain a mystery to literature researchers. Beksinski fascinates with his writing, even though he is mainly associated with visual arts. The author of the article distinguishes this visuality in the stories in detail. The paper focuses primarily on the roles of the narrator, the protagonist and the relationship between them. The narrator figure used by Beksinski appears in two forms: the ‘externalised’ narrator and the ‘external’ narrator. It has been shown that the construction of individual protagonists is inspired by the 19th-century psychological prose, on the basis of which the author paid attention to the individuality of man.