Scraps of the past. On Piotr Guzy’s short story Mała Nusia z misiem

Abstract

The paper is an attempt to interpret Piotr Guzy’s short story 'Mała Nusia z misiem' by taking into account the autobiographical and psychological elements included in the text. Piotr Guzy belongs to the generation of Polish emigrants who experienced and survived the Second World War. The motif of war is frequently present in the short stories of the author of 'Krótki żywot bohatera pozytywnego', which is a contribution to reflection on the evil inscribed in human nature. The writer focuses on a fragmentary account of an episode from the characters’ lives, putting all emotions and various human emotional states into the plot. Thus, one may be dazzled with excellent and dramatic stories which seem to be very plausible. The work’s artistry is based on capturing the moment in which one may observe the expression of emotions. The human psyche frequently faces traumatic experiences and this is what fascinates the writer most – reactions to abnormal events protesting against widely-held behavioural patterns.