Stracona/ocalona. O Stanisławie Przybyszewskiej

The article “Lost/Saved. On Stanisława Przybyszewska” attempts to elucidate the significance of trauma in the life and work of Stanisława Przybyszewska. The researcher, in a polemic with the assertions of Prof. Gabriela Matuszek-Stec (who does not perceive the negative role of the writer Stanisław Przybyszewski in the life of his daughter Stanisława Przybyszewska), first interprets the biographies Stanisława Przybyszewska’s parents — demonstrating how strongly and destructively they were constructed upon highly sexualized conceptions of life possibilities and gender roles. As a result of modernist patterns and practices, Stanisław Przybyszewski could exploit people, especially mistresses, as he pleased, while it was very difficult for his daughter (Stanisława Przybyszewska) and her mother (Aniela Pająkówna), to resist acts of symbolic and literal patriarchal violence. In the case of Stanisława Przybyszewska the author of the article also demonstrates the harmful influence of Helena Pawlikowska, the patron, on the fate of the artist. The article attempts to show how the experiences of the mother and father further influenced the life and work of Stanisława Przybyszewska. Especially the father, perhaps engaging in incestuous abuse, had a tremendous impact on both the self-destructive nature of his daughter's life decisions and the most important matters in her works - the problem of the character and scale of interdependence among people and the multi-faceted issue of power.