Krasiński’s Pastries

Abstract

The article explores the motifs of food and dishes present in the literary works and correspondence of Zygmunt Krasiński – focusing in particular on cakes and pastries. The poet references these foods within the typical contexts and interpretations of his time: as representations of repugnant nourishment (and thus of materiality), as ritual and community-forming elements, or as components of erotic rituals. The way cakes and pastries (more broadly – food) are treated is influenced primarily by Catholicism and Romanticism, understood in the Mickiewiczian or Byronic sense. The point of departure for the analysis is the presence of cakes and tortes in literary texts (such as The Undivine Comedy and various lyrical poems), with attention also paid to sweets mentioned in the poet’s letters. The treatment of these motifs in both literary and paraliterary texts is similarly conventional. Identifying a role for pastries that goes beyond convention and ideology is therefore possible, but such instances
are exceedingly rare (only one example has been found).