In a garden of feelings

VII. Eliza?

So, is Warska, and along with her other characters (though it would probably be better to specify and say: the characters’ emotional states) an alter ego of Orzeszkowa herself? Transformed, hidden, suffering, experiencing an inner emptiness and nothingness? Is the complexity of the author’s suffering revealed on the pages of the novel in a brutal analysis of the behaviour of the characters consumed by their own weaknesses? Or perhaps, applying the psychological law of transference, so characteristic of contemporary therapeutic writing, defined as personal, Orzeszkowa endows the characters in W klatce – each a little – with her own fears, obsessions, and borderline states? In a letter to Teodor Jeż, she wrote:

I must explain myself, and at the same time entrust you with one constant vexation in my life and ask if you won’t explain its source? My mental organization is strangely irregular and uneven. There are weeks and months in which it is full of strength, impulses, ideas, bad or good—that’s another question, but very abundant and energetic. […] Then suddenly, for no apparent or understandable reason, my entire mental state changes. Something within me fades and goes to sleep, my thoughts become lazy, my imagination is silent, I can sit for hours at a time without writing a single decent period.

From this discussion, it’s clear that Orzeszkowa struggled with a feeling of powerlessness that robbed her of the strength to act. As a writer, she emphasizes the difficulty of creating, but the real cause of this dysfunction may have been recurring depression. Danuta Danek, citing contemporary psychological research, has already noted this:

“Spiritual lethargy,” “a strange state of depression and vague stupor of thoughts and feelings,” “petrification of the spirit,” “transformation into a dark and silent abyss,” “dead stupor in which alone lives a heavy, dark, unspoken sadness, never expressed to anyone,” “a kind of inner emptiness and petrification,” “a state of empty weeds.” And finally: “while seemingly living, I do not live at all.” Inner death.

And always a lack of causes

– these are the symptoms of this disease.

The world of relationships and attitudes presented in this aspiring writer’s second novel is seemingly conventional. A deeper look reveals a tragic struggle for survival: the characters are outwardly as they are because, in their true, deeply hidden selves, they would have no chance of functioning fully within society. Because Orzeszkowa also offers this literary world her own insecurities, her oppressive lack of self-worth, and her doomed struggle with shyness:

Compared to the masters of writing I know intimately, I feel like a student or a dwarf. Invariably sensitive to the beauty of others’ works, after reading some, I drop my hands, saying to myself, “I am not worthy to live in a temple with such priests!” For example, this happens to me after reading (among contemporary and Polish) almost every novel by Sienkiewicz. Melancholy then grips me, the mainspring of life breaks, the past seems lost, the future empty.

These words, written much later than W klatce, indicate that even many years after the creation of her youthful novels, Orzeszkowa struggled with various uncertainties, dilemmas, and a life dictated by others’ judgments and building her self-worth by comparing herself to others. She herself constantly delved into the past. It is therefore safe to hypothesize that while writing her early novel, the author worked through various symptoms of illness not only within herself but also in literary characters, then used them in subsequent works. It is difficult to assume, of course, that the writer does this consciously, however she certainly consciously combines her personal experiences with work on developing her novelistic craft, which gradually allows her to create more mature, more complex characters. If we accept, as Anne Marie Moulin says, that “five billion people are currently waiting in a doctor’s waiting room,” we might also find the characters of W klatce there. 

According to Bolesław Prus’s thesis, “we all suffer from nervous disorders.” Reading W klatce from this perspective, in the context of illness confirms the truth of this sentence and suggests that in the structured and stable (on the surface, of course) world of a small town, Warska is not the only one who shows symptoms of an illness that is difficult to name. In the cage of this small-town community, everyone is ill, experiencing frustration, and—most interestingly—keeps it to themselves. No one speaks openly about their ailments. Diaries, locked away in the privacy of their homes, still hold the most hidden secrets and information about suspected illnesses. Among the characters in W klatce, there is not a single character like Emilia Korczyńska. The novel’s conclusion indicates that Orzeszkowa firmly believed in the power of positivist ideals. Warska’s moral renewal is brought about by a powerful psychological experience and is consolidated through her work for the local community. What transpired in the literary work will later be reiterated by the writer in speeches emphasizing the need to work towards moral improvement.

It also seems that much of this work transfers onto literary characters the illnesses Orzeszkowa silently or openly struggles with. The author writes about what she knows from personal experience, multiplying it and naming it in various ways. She imbues the characters in W klatce with each of her imperfections, for she herself is trapped in a cage, and as a keen observer of social life, she notices how many people around her feel and live similarly. It is the cage of her mind. This can be compared to contemporary group therapy: to understand themselves and others, everyone shares their experience of suffering. This alleviates the pain of existence. By creating characters with a part of herself in their minds and biographies, Orzeszkowa momentarily liberates herself and purifies herself from the consuming limitations and prison of her mind.

It is hard to call W klatce an outstanding novel. Its first reading might seem tedious, and the lines expressed are downright ridiculous. However, upon further reading and examination of individual themes, one can discern interesting, even inspiring, passages in the text. Orzeszkowa’s second novel should certainly be placed within the broader context of contemporary research on maladic discourse, as well as within the context of the province – so further readings await.

 

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