„Mam usta na dziesięć kłódek zamknięte” Milczenie wobec słów w Odwiecznej baśni Stanisława Przybyszewskiego

So far the criticism of the Young Poland drama has not produced studies of the narrative and plot structure in Stanisław Przybyszewski’s Odwieczna baśń [The Perennial Fairy Tale] (1906). This article cannot claim to make much progress in this field, even if it takes up the problem of silence, which is of great importance in the turn of the century literature and in Przybyszewski’s play. The play, of course, is made up of words, and yet their domination is inextricably connected with silence. If the surfeit of words in mo-dernist drama has been a matter of complaint by every generation of critics, in Odwieczna baśń they can as well run out and give way to a pause. Przybyszewski’ handling of the words/silence balance follows his theoretic postulates without being in any way disre-spectful of the dramatic conventions of the time. Silences crop up in the dialogues and accentuate the characters’ gestures and moments of reflection; they are given some room in the stage directions; and, what is even more important, silences on stage are built into the performance as a means of jogging the audience’s attention.