Antinomies of Masculinity and the Eroticized Gaze on a Male Body in Agnieszka, córka Kolumba by Wilhelm Mach
Wilhelm Mach’s novel Agnieszka, córka Kolumba [Agnes, Columbus’ Daughter] (1965) has now largely been forgotten, like the author’s other works, yet, in the 1960’s it used to be highly controversial and provoked numerous arguments. This paper brings the novel back into focus and analyzes the ambiguous and internally incongruous concept of masculinity it presents. The analysis concerns the novel both in the wider contexts of the ideological and aesthetic discussions of the 1960s, and in relation to the author’s earlier works. The author’s personal view on the form of a novel was highly interesting as he conceptualized a well-crafted novel as a “gendered” one: the “masculine” dimension of the epic had to be balanced by the “feminine” element encapsulated in the concentration on details, emotionality, and attentiveness. These ideas being put into practice, “the feminine” in Agnieszka is realized by the romantic plot and eroticization of the constructed-as-feminine gaze on the masculine body, yet under the heteronormative and patriarchal regime the eroticization of this body disrupts the “masculine” narrative and results in an artistic failure and the omnipresent misunderstanding of the author’s intentions.

Antinomies of Masculinity and the Eroticized Gaze on a Male Body in Agnieszka, córka Kolumba by Wilhelm Mach
Wilhelm Mach’s novel Agnieszka, córka Kolumba [Agnes, Columbus’ Daughter] (1965) has now largely been forgotten, like the author’s other works, yet, in the 1960’s it used to be highly controversial and provoked numerous arguments. This paper brings the novel back into focus and analyzes the ambiguous and internally incongruous concept of masculinity it presents. The analysis concerns the novel both in the wider contexts of the ideological and aesthetic discussions of the 1960s, and in relation to the author’s earlier works. The author’s personal view on the form of a novel was highly interesting as he conceptualized a well-crafted novel as a “gendered” one: the “masculine” dimension of the epic had to be balanced by the “feminine” element encapsulated in the concentration on details, emotionality, and attentiveness. These ideas being put into practice, “the feminine” in Agnieszka is realized by the romantic plot and eroticization of the constructed-as-feminine gaze on the masculine body, yet under the heteronormative and patriarchal regime the eroticization of this body disrupts the “masculine” narrative and results in an artistic failure and the omnipresent misunderstanding of the author’s intentions.