The Folwark and the Fate. A Sketch on Adolf Dygasinski's Rural Works

Abstract

This article is an attempt to interpret selected texts by Adolf Dygasiński, which depict life on a farm in the second half of the 19th century from the perspective of agricultural workers. In Dygasiński's view, the farm appears as a distorted and dehumanised social space, characterised by omnipresent violence. The extremely difficult conditions prevailing there undermine interpersonal bonds, prompting the characters to cast various representatives of their own community as scapegoats. The article examines this social phenomenon as presented by the writer and seeks to clarify both its dynamics and the factors that cause it.