Uwagi o przestrzeni w Empuzjonie Olgi Tokarczuk

This paper analyses the construction of space as depicted in Olga Tokarczuk’s novel Empuzjon. The novel is set in the autumn of 1913 in the spa town of Gërbersdorf located in the Sudetes. The town, with a spahouse at its centre, is situated in a valley surrounded by forested hillsides. This location encloses the space, unlike the surrounding mountainous landscape. This contrast can be reflected by the oppositions of “civilisation–nature” and “masculine–feminine” (where the space of nature is feminine and “wild/primal”, while the world of the town is dominated by the masculine element). From the biographical perspective of thema in character, the androgynous Mieczyslaw Wojnicz, the vertical axisof the world plays an important role. His development proceeds from the memories of trips to the basement during his childhood to the atticin the guesthouse in Gërbersdorf.