„Głodnymi ludźmi i końmi wojny robić nie można”. O etycznej i taktycznej naturze literackich świadectw Romana Żaby i Tadeusza Kudlińskiego, oficerów armii austro-węgierskiej

Abstract

The literary representations of the First World War by Roman Żaba and Tadeusz Kudliński offer a perspective on the armed conflict that transformed the face of nineteenth-century Europe, differing from the commonly known images perpetuated by legionary literature or pacifist prose. Both authors served in the Austro-Hungarian army. Kudliński was drafted directly from secondary school, while Żaba chose a military career of his own accord in his youth. They served in different branches of the army: Kudliński in the artillery, Żaba as a cavalry officer educated in military academies and experienced in Galician uhlan regiments. Military service was thus an episode in Kudliński’s life, yet one significant enough for him to dedicate to it his novel "The Taste of the World: An Autobiographical Novel". War and military service also occupy an important place in his prose volume "The Capital of My Youth: Memoirs of a Cracovian between the Wars". Żaba, in turn, authored "Memoirs of Years Past" (from 1864 to 1937)": “I Was Lucky in War”. Are there affinities, apart from military motifs, between the autobiographical prose of a professional officer and that of a writer? Without delving into questions of style, it is worth noting the presence in these works of the categories of affect and emotion, understood as defined by Anna Łebkowska. What constitutes corporeality, physiology, sensuality, and physical fitness undoubtedly finds expression in attitudes displayed both in garrison life and on the front. Both the artilleryman and the cavalry officer – which in Żaba’s case seems natural – highlight in their prose the relationship between man and horse.