Magiczno-religijna mozaika. Źródła obrazów postaci bogów Krain Wewnętrznego Morza z „Sagi o Zbóju Twardokęsku” Anny Brzezińskiej

Abstract

The aim of this article is to find the sources of images of the Inner Sea Lands gods in Anna Brzezińska’s “Saga of Twardokęsek the Brigand”. The author presents the most important features of these characters, their most recognizable actions and attributes, comparing them with possible prototypes derived from Greek, Roman, Scandinavian, Slavic, and Hindu mythology, as well as Christianity. She points out that the gods in Brzezińska’s saga, although worshipped, are not omnipotent and do not possess full creative powers. They turn out to be only slightly more powerful than their off spring, the fruit of their relationships with humans — witches. Shaping human fates, they are only able to recreate ancient patterns over and over again and are subject to a higher power (similarly to how the Greek gods were subject to Fatum). In their images, we can also find traces of inspiration from the classic mythopoetic fantasy, especially Ursula K. Le Guin’s series about the Earthsea. Thus, these images can be seen as a magical-religious mosaic, which evokes associations with the considerations of classical anthropology on the relations between magic and religion. The author also puts forward the hypothesis about treating these images as a metaphor for the process of creating literature, especially in its original, oral form.