The Sacred and Revolt in the Poetry of Wislawa Szymborska: An Interdisciplinary Reading

Abstract

Julia Kristeva has argued that beyond the socio-political level the women's movement is situated within the framework of the religious crisis of our civilization. By this she refers to the whole post-modern, post-structuralist enterprise that questions the way we represent and define ourselves. This involves not only language but all its preconditions and is directly engaged in the search for meaning and value. Consequently she has argued we should put aside the idea of identity and ask instead, what is our place in the symbolic contract or linguistic community. This paper seeks to explore Kristeva's question through the poetry of the Polish Nobel Laureate, Wislawa Szymborska. I will argue that Szymborska mediates experience through poetry in a way that resacrilises the ordinary and transforms the Sacred.