The book is a collection of Przybyszewski’s essays, literary-critical pieces, and programmatic writings. In this volume, the author has compiled his texts, which had previously appeared in the Kraków-based magazine *Życie* and in the German press.
It is in this volume that the key tenets of Polish modernism were formulated, including the famous concept of the “naked soul” and the theory of useless (absolute) art, which stood in opposition to the earlier, utilitarian functions of literature. Today, this work is regarded as one of the most important aesthetic manifestos of Young Poland.
Stanisław Przybyszewski (the leading ideologue of Polish decadentism and the Kraków bohemian circles of the Young Poland period).
National Printing House in Kraków, vignettes by Dunikowski, Hlavacka, Leistikow, and Procajłowicz.
126 pages
