Black Humour in the Prose of Michał Choromański – Selected Examples

Abstract

The aim of this article is to show the conection between Michał Choromański's work and the grotesque. However, the actual subject of interest is peculiar kind of grotesque, namely comedy/black humor, thanks to which the fictional reality of Choromański's prose fully acquires the grotesque dimension. If while reading Zazdrość i medycyna (The Envy and Medicine) one does not take into account the revolutionary sensitivity (which was denoted by an ironic, aestheticizing and often cruel attitude towards the human suffering illustrated in the given work), it will remain incomprehensible. An anti-sentimental impulse directed the artist towards black humor, with which he stigmatized not only outdated literary conventions, but also the world of appearances, lies, artificiality, and hypocrisy.