Published : 2024-03-19

Faces of Transylvania in Kazimiera Iłłakowiczówna’s Work, or Topography of Contradiction

Abstract

In Kazimiera Iłłakowiczówna’s work, largely inspired by numerous journeys and movements, an important role is played by topographic imagination and emphasis on various connections with specific places. The poet's eight-year-long stay in Transylvania during World War II and her works connected with this land aptly illustrate her unique perception of space, which also applies to Iłłakowiczówna’s other works. Place is seen here as a reality of contradictions: between the foreignness of exile and the longing for the home country, between ignoring the new reality and attempts to take root, between the Hungarian and Romanian elements of Transylvanian culture, between its peripherality within the Hungarian culture and the central position of Budapest, between the North and the South. These contradictions govern the perception of places, organize place and space, and allow us to talk about five necessary elements that make up the image of the adversarial topography present in her work. This topography is a form of mediation in the process of getting to know the world; the poet confronts it with the metaphysical dimension of experience.

Keywords:

geopetics, adversarial topography/topography of contradiction, topographic imagination, autobiographical places, ignored place, biography



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Roczniki Humanistyczne · ISSN 0035-7707 | eISSN 2544-5200 | DOI: 10.18290/rh
© The Learned Society of the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin & The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Faculty of Humanities


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