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DOI Artikel:Zbańska, Marta: "Nie odwracaj się": esej o geście mitologicznym
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.37085#0328
326
MARTA ZBANSKA
doomed Eurydice to eternal imprisonment captivity in the world of the dead. Her despaired
husband went back alone to the realm of the living. In a similar story, Coyote - a protagonist
of a myth popular in a North American Indian tribe - followed his deceased wife to the world
of the shadows. He failed to take his bełoved back as he succumbed to the temptation of run-
ning to her and trying to touch her. Izanagi, a god in the Japanese mythology, ignored the
warnings and when he went to the underworld, he took a torch and looked into the face of his
deceased sister-wife Izanami. Brothers of a Hawaiian hero Maui also experienced the grave
conseąuences of turning back, when they lost a chance of consolidating all the Hawai islands
into an archipelago. A warning against turning back is also included in the Chinese Book of
Changes (I Ching). A commentary to its last hexagram warns men against stopping on their
way, encourages them to move forward and resist the temptation to stop and look back on the
danger they have survived. The Bibie also repeats a similar word of warning. The best known
instance is the gesture of Lot’s wife, who turned back on her escape frorn Sodom. She was
changed into a salt pillar. Also, the words of Jesus, who warns people against looking back
when they start plough work. The last example comes from Tennyson’s story of Lady of
Shalott, who turned back from the magical mirror.
Translated by Konrad Klimkowski
Słowa kluczowe: mit, gest, symbol, archetyp, odwrócić się, spojrzeć za siebie, Orfe-
usz, Lady z Shalott, żona Lota.
Key words: myth, gesture, symbol, archetype, turning back, looking back, Orpheus,
The Lady of Shallott, Lot’s wife.
MARTA ZBANSKA
doomed Eurydice to eternal imprisonment captivity in the world of the dead. Her despaired
husband went back alone to the realm of the living. In a similar story, Coyote - a protagonist
of a myth popular in a North American Indian tribe - followed his deceased wife to the world
of the shadows. He failed to take his bełoved back as he succumbed to the temptation of run-
ning to her and trying to touch her. Izanagi, a god in the Japanese mythology, ignored the
warnings and when he went to the underworld, he took a torch and looked into the face of his
deceased sister-wife Izanami. Brothers of a Hawaiian hero Maui also experienced the grave
conseąuences of turning back, when they lost a chance of consolidating all the Hawai islands
into an archipelago. A warning against turning back is also included in the Chinese Book of
Changes (I Ching). A commentary to its last hexagram warns men against stopping on their
way, encourages them to move forward and resist the temptation to stop and look back on the
danger they have survived. The Bibie also repeats a similar word of warning. The best known
instance is the gesture of Lot’s wife, who turned back on her escape frorn Sodom. She was
changed into a salt pillar. Also, the words of Jesus, who warns people against looking back
when they start plough work. The last example comes from Tennyson’s story of Lady of
Shalott, who turned back from the magical mirror.
Translated by Konrad Klimkowski
Słowa kluczowe: mit, gest, symbol, archetyp, odwrócić się, spojrzeć za siebie, Orfe-
usz, Lady z Shalott, żona Lota.
Key words: myth, gesture, symbol, archetype, turning back, looking back, Orpheus,
The Lady of Shallott, Lot’s wife.