Five Easy Pieces? What Eliza Orzeszkowa’s early works presuppose
It is interesting to note that Bob Rafelson’s film features a set of presuppositions typologically similar to those in nineteenth-century novels. Lurking in the background are social tensions and transformations, this time, it is the social revolution of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Simple virtues are criticized implicitly and rejected by the central protagonist of the film. Even art and talent cannot compensate for the sense of the futility of life (the attitude towards art displayed in the film is close to Orzeszkowa’s view). It is not my intention to search for further analogies (beyond primitive misogyny) between Orzeszkowa’s works and a cult US-American film that today has little resonance, at least as far as I can tell. This would be a rather futile exercise leading nowhere. However, I would point out that it is presuppositions that form the component of art that enables us, under certain conditions, to speak about its universal significance or its ability to transcend language and epochal boundaries. When all else fails, they at least continue to function like clockwork.
Przekład na język angielski: Paul Vickers
