Close-up on the Ladybug: Konwicki, Mach and a Shot from an Unrealized Adaptation
Przemysław Kaniecki
p.kaniecki@al.uw.edu.plUniversity of Warsaw (Poland)
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3280-8501
Abstract
The article discusses the similarity between the motif of the ladybug in the screenplay (by Tadeusz Konwicki, Jerzy Kawalerowicz, and Wilhelm Mach) of an unrealized film about space expeditions, Witaj, Ziemio (Welcome, Earth) (1959), and the twin motif from Kowicki’s novel Wniebowstąpienie (Ascension) (1967). The author shows that the appearance of the ladybug is not just an unconscious reminiscence, but the motif was deliberately introduced by Konwicki into the text of the novel, for specific purposes that are reconstructed here. He discusses the meanings of the motif in the screenplay’s typescript, and the contribution of this reference to the meanings of Ascension. He also presents the literary-theoretical complications that arise in describing the reference, which result from the fact that the text evoked by Konwicki is not in circulation; it is difficult to speak of a literary allusion if the readers did not understand that the motif is an allusion. These complications are compounded by the writer’s silence about the script – he did not talk about it or even hint at its connection to Ascension. The author tries to find out what Konwicki’s intentions might have been and how the similarities between the two motifs can be put into literary-theoretical categories.
Keywords:
Tadeusz Konwicki, Wilhelm Mach, screenplay, unrealised films, literary allusionReferences
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Authors
Przemysław Kanieckip.kaniecki@al.uw.edu.pl
University of Warsaw Poland
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3280-8501
Lecturer in the Faculty of “Artes Liberales” at the University of Warsaw, curator of collections at the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews. He is the author of the monographs Wniebowstąpienia Konwickiego [Konwicki’s Ascensions] (2013) and Samospalenia Konwickiego [Konwicki’s Self-Immolations] (2014), among other works.
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