Jerzy Zulawski Eros and psyche [1st edition, 1904].

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Jerzy Żuławski
Eros and psyche

Lviv 1904 first edition
(6)268(3)s. + 16 photo plates - Irena Solska and Wladyslaw Roman on stage in Lvov, directed by Ludwik Solski
o. semi-colon
p. bdb

For. ca: 15.5 x12 cm

"The first performance of Eros and Psyche took place on February 27, 1904, simultaneously in Krakow and Lviv. The premiere performance on the Lviv stage featured the famous Irena Solska and an actor, unknown to me by name, named Roman [Wladyslaw - note: Charlatan] - in the role of Eros. The stage success of the play was so great that its book edition was published in less than three months after the premiere and (which was no small rarity at the time) was decorated by the publisher - H. Altenberg's bookstore in Lviv - with photographs from the Lviv performance. One of them, with Solska's likeness in the role of Psyche, was affixed to the face of the linen binding of Zulawski's book. The performer of this role was a public figure, a heroine of numerous social scandals, and perhaps this was the only reason why the appearance of her nude portrait on the cover of Eros and Psyche was possible at all. Either way, in terms of morals - and more - the revolution was great. "source: Jan Straus, Now cover, Warsaw 2021, p. 286

"Jerzy Żuławski coat of arms Szeliga - Polish philosopher, writer, poet and playwright of the Young Poland period. Together with Wladyslaw Uminski and Antoni Lang, one of the forerunners of Polish fantasy literature. As a poet, he is a representative of decadentism and catastrophism. Author of symbolic dramas and poetic prose, as well as philosophical essays."

"Jerzy Zulawski's drama Eros and Psyche is a metaphorical vision of the history of the world as a redemptive journey of the Soul (Psyche) striving for union with creator Love (Eros). Psyche's guilt is a passionate desire to know the true face of Eros, in which, quite other than love-driven longing, she was unwittingly aided by the earthly, sluggish and material element, personified in a character named Blaks (cf. Gr. βλαχις: shame). In search of her love, driven by Psyche's longing, she ventures out of the Arcadian realm, incarnating successively as a wandering singer in the time of Greece's fall under the yoke of Rome, a nun in a medieval monastery, an art-loving duchess in Renaissance Italy, an innkeeper-guide of the people dedicated to fighting for freedom during the French Revolution, and finally the mistress of a powerful banker at the turn of the 20th century."

source:https://nakanapie.pl