MOTIVE OF DEFORESTATION IN THE LITERATURE OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE XIX CENTURY

Abstract

This article is devoted to the theme of deforestation in the prose of the positivists and modernists, meaning images of deforestation appearing in ‘Placówka’ by Bolesław Prus, ‘Dęby’ (1902) by Adolf Dygasiński, ‘Kopeć’ (1912) by Ignacy Grabowski, ‘Echa leśne’ (1905) by Stefan Żeromski, ‘W porębie’ (1900) by Władysław Stanisław Reymont and ‘Nasz las i jego mieszkańcy’ (1898) by Bohdan Dyakowski, paying attention to the ethical component about caring for native forests. Writers record images of degraded ecosystems, also emphasizing the problem of the loss of biodiversity in the world of flora. When showing the destruction of a forest, writers often use anthropomorphization, giving the trees a voice in the narrative (e.g. Prus, Dygasiński, Grabowski, Reymont). Often in these works there are comparisons of cut down trees to human bodies, and the dominant color of red (in Grabowski and Reymont) brings to mind associations with blood and innocent suffering. In many of the discussed texts, trees are identified with the sacred sphere, they are a link between the past and the present (e.g. in Żeromski, Dygasiński, Dyakowski’s writings). Forests are synonymous with the homeland, and their annihilation grows into an unspecified catastrophe. The pro-ecological awareness related to the care for the protection of the Polish tree stand is associated with the figure of the narrator, who is its guardian, and it is revealed in anthropomorphization and hyperbolization. It is also worth noting that in the works of Prus and Grabowski, the contemporary perspective of relational thinking on the relationship between the plant, animal and human worlds is visible, particularly in the work of B. Dyakowski, in which the author changes the perspective of description; previously he was only interested in the non-human world (both macro and micro), but here he focuses on the human-nature relationship. They both emphasize that with the massive felling of trees, many species of animals irretrievably lose their place for further existence. It is no coincidence that ominous silence is emphasized in many works, aimed at exposing the tragedy of the degraded ecosystem.