Novel
Homo Sapiens
Homo sapiens
Stanisław Przybyszewski · 1896
Synopsis
Erik Falk, a Polish writer who has emigrated to artists' Berlin in the early 1890s, a man without morals who drinks and ceaselessly scrutinises his own desires, sets out to seduce Iza, a friend's fiancée, and then pursues other conquests. Torn between powerful instincts and a conscience that watches over them, he reduces love to physiology, while seeking total fusion with the woman he loves.
Context
Written in Norway, in the house of Dagny Juel's parents, the novel first appeared in German in Berlin, in three volumes published out of order: Unterwegs and Im Malstrom in 1895, then Über Bord, the first part, in 1896. The Polish version appeared in 1901, a second in 1923; Ewa Skorupa's critical edition restored in 2022 the order intended by the author. Translated into English by Thomas Seltzer in 1915, the book was withdrawn from sale by its American publisher, who had seen it charged with obscenity.
Who it is for
Three volumes with a discontinuous narrative, in which the analysis of states of mind outweighs the plot. No French translation.
Prizes and reception
Counted among the most important and best-known works of its author, and well received in Germany on its publication.
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