Tangibility of Time in the Prose of Aleksander Jurewicz

Abstract

The article is focused on the model of artistic time in the works of Polish writer Alexander Jurewicz: Lida (1990), The Lord Does Not Hear the Deaf (Pan Bóg nie słyszy głuchych, 1995), The True Ballad of Love (Prawdziwa ballada o miłości, 2002), Ashes and Wind (Popiół i wiatr, 2005), and The Day Before the End of the World (Dzień przed końcem świata, 2008). Novel-collage Ashes and Wind is considered as a key work that sums up the writer’s reflections. Jurewicz crosses temporal layers, memories of the past, and refracts vignettes from childhood onto artistic reality. Replicating the past contributes to a fuller definition of one’s own identity. The article shows the interpretation of time by a writer who ruminates on the existence of a person in time and in discord with it, on the openness and tightness of the temporal frame, as well as the timeless nature of sacralizing the space of his home and childhood.