Tadeusz Różewicz, "Ciemne źródło" („Dark Source")

Abstract

The article interpreting Ciemne źródło ("Dark Source") by Tadeusz Różewicz reveals cultural problems with the perception of psychiatric patients (especially evident in the context of the romantic exaltation of the illness). According to the poet, the suffering of the "mad" is not in any way "overestimated": presenting people who are in difficult, confusing situation is not an excuse to glorify them (important in this case is the context of the poet's reluctance towards various types of artistic mythology based on exalting the suffering). In Różewicz's works, between exaltation and stigmatization, there is ordinary human suffering – provoking questions about human weakness, pushed into the unconscious by the "healthy". Writing about the mentally ill, Różewicz reveals the fear of helplessness, dependency, loneliness. They also tend to be the "dark source" of art.