2083-7658 Where Is Piotr Niewiadomski Headed? The Protagonist of The Salt of the Earth in a Mythic-Ritual Context Siwor Dorota author Mazurczak Filip translator Uniwersytet Jagielloński w Krakowie 03bqmcz70 Uniwersytet Jagielloński w Krakowie, Polska, ul. Gołębia 24, 31-007 Kraków Correspondence to: Dorota Siwor dorota.siwor@uj.edu.pl Correspondence to: Filip Mazurczak filip.mazurczak@gmail.com 18 12 2018 Special Issue (2018) 2018 3 19 Copyright © 2018 2018 <p style="text-align: left;">The author returns to <em>The Salt of the Earth</em> conceived in the mythic-ritual context. She presents characteristic elements of the plot that allow us to interpret the fortunes of the main character through the prism of the initiation ritual. However, what she proposes differs from previous interpretations of the novel. She concludes that by using the poetics of myth and the initiation model the author not only demythologizes war, but also presents a diagnosis of the situation of European civilization on the eve of the cataclysm of World War II. Wittlin also passes judgment on fascination with the primeval myth, as well as on simplistic concepts of the return to a state of unblemished nature, which was supposed to be an antidote to the civilizational threats of the time.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">The author also contemplates the meaning of the presentation of the protagonist of the novel, Piotr Niewiadomski, as an innocent simpleton. By using the context of the initiation ritual, we can understand Niewiadomski’s journey as a path to recognizing one’s situation in the world leading to rebellion but culminating in cognition and self-awareness. However, the novel’s protagonist does not fully achieve these aims. He remains a person who is incapable of carrying knowledge about the world and about conscious participation. Therefore, in <em>The Salt of the Earth</em> Wittlin poses a question about the responsibility all of us bear for evil, including that resulting from simplifications and from mythologization. </p> 1 Bettelheim B., Symbolic Wounds: Puberty Rites and the Envious Male, New York 1962. 2 Buchowski M., Magia i rytuał, Warszawa 1993. Eliade M., Initiation, rites, sociétés secrètes, Paris 1992. 3 Fryde L., “O prozie Wittlin” [in:] idem, Wybór pism krytycznych, ed. A. Biernacki, Warszawa 1966. 4 Gębala S., “Odpowiedzialność za słowo. (O eseistyce Józefa Wittlina)” (“Responsibility for the Word: On Józef Wittlin’s Essays”), Ruch Literacki 1985, vol. 2; reprint: S. Gębala, Odpowiedzialność za słowo (felietony i szkice), Bielsko-Biała 1993. 5 Jakowska K., Z dziejów ekspresjonizmu w Polsce. Wokół “Soli ziemi”, Wrocław 1977. Kaniewska  B., “O  sposobach  i  funkcjach  mityzacji.  Nowak  –  Myśliwski  – Redliński”, Pamiętnik Literacki 1990, vol. 3. 6 Kubiak Z., “Polski homeryda” (“The Polish Homericist”) [in:] J. Wittlin, Sól ziemi, Warszawa 1979. 7 Ligęza W., “Gorycz wszelkiej słodyczy. Rozmowa z E. Wittlin-Lipton,” Dekada Literacka 1999, no. 11–12. 8 Malinowski B., Magic, Science and Religion and Other Essays, Long Grove 1992. Mieletinski E., The Poetics of Myth, New York–London 2000. 9 Mity, mitologie, mityzacje nie tylko w literaturze, ed. L. Wiśniewska, Bydgoszcz 2005. 10 Mizerkiewicz T., Stylizacje mityczne w prozie polskiej po 1968 roku, Poznań 2001. 11 Olejniczak J., “Między ‘Pan jest literat’ a ‘jestem tylko pisarzem.’ O powinnościach i zobowiązaniach literatury w eseistyce Józefa Wittlina” (“Between ‘You Are a Man of Letters’ and ‘I Am Only a Writer’: On the Duties and Responsibilities in Józef Wittlin’s Essays”) [in:] Prace Naukowe Uniwersytetu Śląskiego w Katowicach, ed. I. Opacki, Katowice 1990. 12 Siwor D., W kręgu mitu, magii i rytuału. O prozie Tadeusza Nowaka, Kraków 2002. Wiegandt E., “Wstęp” [in:] J. Wittlin, Sól ziemi, Wrocław 1991. 13 Wittlin J., Orfeusz w piekle XX wieku, Kraków 2000. 14 Wittlin J., “Postscriptum do Soli ziemi po trzydziestu pięciu latach” [in:] idem, Sól ziemi, Warszawa 1979. 15 Wocław W.S., “W żywiole ironii… O bohaterach Soli ziemi Józefa Wittlina,” Kon- teksty Kultury 2011, no. 7. 16 Woldan A., Mit Austrii w literaturze polskiej, Kraków 2002. 17 Yurieff Z., Józef Wittlin, trans. M. Szczubiałka, Warszawa 1997 (the English version: Z. Yurieff, Joseph Wittlin, New York 1973).