Three Reymontian Fantasies in the Novella Szczęśliwi

Abstract

The novella Szczęśliwi was written while Reymont was working on the railway. The author's most important fantasies are visible in the work: alienation, which he felt as a kind of stigma, the Christmas Eves spent alone because of it, and the dream of remaining forever in a peasant environment. These three fantasies are specific torments that Reymont struggled with. The writer's emotionalism caused him to constantly describe his fate as a state of misfortune. The article reconstructs the genesis of the novella together with previously unknown facts, which facilitates the connection of the text of the novella with the writer's diary notes, refers to the state of research on the text, analyzes components of the fantasies, indicating a strong connection with Reymont's biography. Several hypotheses are also put forward, including the transfer of literary fiction from the novella Szczęśliwi to Reymont's authentic autobiography, which allows us to ask about the credibility of his biography.