Abstract

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE: The main goal of the article is to interpret Gombrowicz’s Lawyer Kraykowski’s Dancer, from the perspective of political philosophy. The issue of objectifying individuals functioning in communities is emphasized.

THE RESEARCH PROBLEM AND METHODS: The problem comes down to the question: how does the tendency to humiliate and the desire to be humiliated affect the functioning of an individual in a political community? A qualitative content analysis is used, taking into account that the literary work is worth treating as an alternative form of documenting quasi-political observations.

THE PROCESS OF ARGUMENTATION: The story is interpreted in relation to the concept of the “interhuman church”. The plot, event by event, is commented on and confronted with the broader context of Gombrowicz’s work. Particular attention is paid to the dynamics of interpersonal relationships, the issue of power and the drama of human life in an unfavorable society.

RESEARCH RESULTS: Lawyer Kraykowski’s Dancer is an example of prose that is particularly valuable for political reflection on reality. Gombrowicz presents a specific synthesis of the classical perception of political human nature with a typically modern approach. His zoon politikon is selfish and naturally tends to objectify other people. Living in a community causes suffering for homo sapiens, but complete isolation from the herd is prevented by the need to be formed and shaped by others.

CONCLUSIONS, INNOVATIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS: Gombrowicz’s youthful story paradoxically points to the naturalness of the artificial political community. Building a hierarchy, creating conventions, and socially accepted mechanisms of exalting and humiliating individual individuals allow for taming the chaos resulting from the expansive nature of Gobrowicz’s Cogito. Recognizing the political nature of the individuals functioning in Gombrowicz’s universe is a starting point for further reconstruction of the Polish writer’s “political thought”.