Anita Staroń

What is Rachilde’s vocation? Could her life have taken another course rather than the literary way? According to what she declares in her autobiographical or semi-autobiographical texts, it turns out that this profession, chosen consciously in her early years, had saved her from madness. Drawing inspiration from the psychoanalytical observations contained in Catherine Millot’s book La Vocation de l’écrivain, the present study attempts to establish the sources of the literary career chosen by Rachilde, her own ways of exercising it and the point of achievement that she could reach by accomplishing certain choices. For Rachilde, there is no enjoyment outside of writing.

The legend of Napoleon I, particularly vivid in France and Poland throughout the nineteenth century, begins to support, at the end of this period, the nationalist or independence propaganda, reflecting the political situation in each country. The portraits of Napoleonic soldiers, presented in Les Demi‐solde by Georges d'Esparbès and in a couple of novels written by Polish writers of the same time (Gąsiorowski, Przyborowski, Przerwa‐Tetmajer, Morawska), carry great similarities which this paper intends to analyse. Above all, one may observe nostalgia for the glorious past, dignity despite material difficulties, sense of courage, attachment to the notions of honour and duty going beyond death.

The objective of this study is to analyze the transition from one period of Rachilde’s creation to another, which is represented by her novel Le Mordu (1889). While saying goodbye to a form of expression that seems obsolete, the novelist indicates directions to take. She also presents the dilemma of artistic compromise versus pure art. Thus the terms of revolution and evolution find their meaning: in relation to the intransigence of the artistic principles which, during the course of life, switch to morally dubious mercantilism. The meaning of these two terms is examined not only in the context of Rachilde’s novel, but also in relation to her own choices.