Instytut Badań Literackich Polskiej Akademii Nauk

(The influence of the Baroque exempla on the inspiration for Anna Mostowska on the example of her novel Zamek Koniecpolskich and Matylda i Daniło)

Year of publication: 2015
Page range: 14 (59-72)
Keywords: Anna Mostowska, Jesuit exempla, gothic novel
Author: Dorota Vincůrková (The University of Silesia)

Abstract

The article compares the novels Zamek Koniecpolskich and Matylda i Daniło by Anna Mostowska (ca. 1762– before 1833) with the Baroque Jesuit exempla collected in Historie dziwne i straszliwe. The Jesuit stories from early XVIII century were edited by Mariusz Kazańczuk. The novels by the Vilnius writer and the Baroque exempla share similarities in presenting the fictional world: the scenery of the events and the characters. The ghosts in Mostowska’s stories have the features of the so called ‘returning ghosts’ who come down to the world to ask the living for the prayers. These phantoms appear in the Jesuit texts as well as in Zamek Koniecpolskich and Matylda i Daniło. The ghosts of Władysław and Edgwarda are related to the teachings of the Catholic Church (intensified after the Council of Trent) regarding the purgatory and the penance. Mostowska’s sources of inspirations were diverse. She was inspired with the Western Gothic stories (e.g. The Monk by Matthew Gregory Lewis, The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole and The Italian by Ann Radcliffe) as well as religious didactics.

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