Econarratology and the problem of metalepsis and description in Wiktor Żwikiewicz’s Druga Jesień [A Second Autumn]

Abstract

This article presents an econarratological analysis of metalepsis and descriptive techniques in Druga Jesień [A Second Autumn], a somewhat forgotten experimental novel by Wiktor Żwikiewicz, which I retroactively classify as an example of weird fiction in Polish literature. Drawing on a methodological framework of the descriptive turn and Graham Harman’s assertion that strange reality calls for strange realism, I argue that such a reality also requires distinctive techniques of literary representation – specifically, non-prototypical and strange descriptions that are illusive, allusive, and that challenge the cognitive capabilities of the “descriptor,” ultimately blurring the lines between the subject and environment. Furthermore, I comment on the functions of metaleptic narratives in econarratology, claiming that their paradoxical nature emphasizes the absence of a definitive “meta” perspective from which individuals can examine the planet and the biosphere.