The Sacred, Violence, Ritual – 'Dionysiac Poetics' in 'The Cave of Philosophers' by Zbigniew Herbert
Journal Title: Вісник Житомирського державного університету імені Івана Франка - Year 2017, Vol 86, Issue 2
Abstract
The paper is a hermeneutical attempt to explicate the drama 'The Cave of Philosophers' in which Herbert showed numerous intertextual parallels that associate the play with the Greek culture, philosophy, religion and tragedy (e.g. 'The Bacchae' of Euripides). 'The Cave of Philosophers' is the first Herbert’s drama, which has been comprehensively explained by many prominent scholars. The title refers to the allegory of the cave from the seventh book of Plato's 'Politeia'. 'The Cave of Philosophers' was strongly influenced by two 'dramatic thinkers': Søren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche, who are mentioned in Herbert’s letters to Jerzy Zawieyski and Henryk Elzenberg. In his play Herbert reinterprets Socrates in such a way that he becomes a truly tragic character and can be included to a series of Socratic images of modern European philosophical tradition. The main opponent of Socrates is Dionysus, confronted with whom the protagonist of the play acquires true knowledge about himself. In the darkness of the cage Socrates experiences a universal liminal experience (rite de passage), metaphorical katabasis, nekyia, which enables him to reintegrate at a deeper level, touch the truth about his life, achieve self-knowledge, return to homeland familiarity and see the most profound hidden motives and consequences of his actions. Dionysian logos as opposed to Socratic logos, doesn’t try to harmonize or resolve the conflict, but to reveal in the individual and in the world the coexistence of basic contradictions. In drama Socrates allows to articulate the repressed content of his soul, previously depreciated and considered as worthless and illogical. The philosopher is forced to reexamine his worldview and to allow the repressed or rather undervalued realm of the sacred, which Rudolf Otto called 'misterium tremendum et fascinosum', to be expressed.
Authors and Affiliations
J. Jurkowski
Keywords
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