Joanna Gorecka-Kalita

In his Confessions, Saint Augustine formulates the idea of human time as distentio animi (extension/distraction of the soul/spirit), which he contrasts with divine eternity. The opposition between the temporal and subjective ‘earthly’ and the eternal ‘heavenly’ is part of the Augustinian ‘analogical matrix’ that has been part of the framework of Western thought for more than a millennium. Medieval thought on time is situated within this framework, although other influences should also be added (e.g. the archaic conception of cyclical time perceptible in the liturgy), and its characteristic duality is reflected in literary texts. This article aims to demonstrate the exceptional complexity and originality of the reflection on time in Thomas of England’s Tristan, as well as its links with the Augustinian matrix. The analysis focuses on a double temporality contained in the narrative: one, linear and subjective at the same time, tends inexorably towards death; the other  ntroduces a dimension of eternity through the ideal of love, represented by the golden ring, whose role goes beyond a symbolic function, since it can revive the past and determine the future. In this way, Thomas offers a substitution of the elements of the Augustinian matrix, replacing the divine absolute by that of the fin’amor raised to the level of the spiritual ideal.

In his autobiographical novel, Promise at Dawn, Romain Gary, in addition to numerous confabulations, also made several borrowings from various works of world literature; a considerable number of these have been identified by researchers. The article adds to this list the hitherto undiscovered plagiarism of Bezgrzeszne lata [Innocent Years] by Kornel Makuszyński, a writer whom Gary read in his youth. One of the most recognisable episodes of Promise at Dawn – the story of the author’s/narrator’s childhood love for Valentina, for whom he ate, among other things, a kilo of cherries with seeds or, finally, the eponymous galosh – bears a striking resemblance to the description of narrator’s love for Inka Leszczyńska in Innocent Years.

In addition to this connection, there are other, less obvious similarities between the two works, related to the authors’ creative paths, their first literary attempts or difficulties at school, and the subsequent experience regarding their first publications. There are also similarities between the authors themselves, both achieving ‘celebrity’ status through their writing successes, both equally averse (with reciprocity) to any avant-garde or political involvement, both adhering to humanist ideals in their writing and seeking to right wrongs and injustices, each in their own way. 

The article investigates two mysterious feminine figures appearing in the 13th century Old
French prose romance Le Haut Livre du Graal (Perlesvaus). Their ontological status, which
remains uncertain until the end, gives them, along with the sexual violence and castration
phantasms they incarnate, a highly troubling and uncanny aspect. The analysis highlights also
the textual strategies used by the author in order to create such an effect

The concept of fin’amor in Thomas’ Tristan is traditionally subject to two interpretations: either it is glorified as a religion, with lovers as its martyrs, or it is criticized within the framework of Christian principles. This paper proposes an alternative to such interpretative dichotomy: it attempts to prove that glorifying the fin’amor as an ideal does not mean idealizing the lovers. In fact, Thomas judges severely his characters not in the name of Christian religion but in the name of an entirely profane, yet highly spiritual ideal of courtly love. The lovers, although far from being its embodiment, still aspire and refer to it, suffering from their own imperfection. This tension is highlighted by the aesthetics of doubling characterizing Thomas’ writing.

The paper analyses medieval Tristan romances by Béroul and Thomas of Britain in the light of Evagrius of Pontus’doctrine of acedia. The starting point is the concept of ‘Noonday Demon’: understood by Evagrius as the devil tempting the monk into acedia –a state of listlessness and spiritual torpor. It is used today to describe a ‘midlife crisis’ affecting married men in their erotic and sexual behaviour. The analysis tends to prove that the confusion between these two meanings can be traced back to the medieval Tristan legend, especially in Thomas’ version: in fact, Tristan’s supposed melancholy resembles acedia as defined by Evagrius, with its essential characteristics: instability, inconstancy, desire of novelty and perpetual dissatisfaction.