"Zabawy mędrców" Antoniego Wysockiego – powieść z życia akademików krakowskich XVI wieku

Abstract

Zabawy mędrców – a novel by Antoni Godziemba Wysocki, a forgotten writer, an eccentric and intellectual from Lviv, was published in the interwar period and became a literary event. Reviewers unanimously emphasized his innovative approach to history. It was not the historical novel that readers were used to, both in terms of idea and form. Placing the action inside the Krakow Academy in the 16th century, at the turn of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, was supposed to demonstrate the pathology of education that was dominated by dogma and scholasticism against the background of the daily life of those days. In order to achieve that, the author allegedly worked on his book for over twenty years, thoroughly studying the sources: rare papers, manuscripts and numerous dissertations about the history of the Jagiellonian University. Consequently, a vivid (but strongly biased and clearly depreciating the Middle Ages) study of a few teachers came into life. The professors and bachelors, who had authentic prototypes, were shown through psychoanalytical examination in search of their complexes and personality disorders that limited their mental and didactic work. Wysocki’s work: cool, intellectual, and allusive, it was a unique but one‑sided presentation of Polish culture during the times of the last Jagiellon, but above all, it was a type of warning that concerned the condition and future of Polish education after gaining independence.