The Experience of Evil: Reading Andrzej Łuczeńczyk’s Works through the Lens of Jean Nabert’s Philosophy

Abstract

This article examines the neglected Polish writer of the 1980s, Andrzej Łuczeńczyk, and the representation of evil in his work, interpreted through the phenomenological–existentialist philosophy of Jean Nabert. Seeking to portray the darkest dimensions of human existence, Łuczeńczyk exposes its manifestations in death, murder, the breakdown of communication, loneliness, and the brutality of human actions. Nabert’s reflective philosophy—particularly his concept of unjustifiable evil, that is, evil as inexplicable, irreducible, and incapable of justification—provides a framework for comprehending how evil emerges in Łuczeńczyk’s fictional world: as a spiritual event, inscribed as a wound in human consciousness and will. Łuczeńczyk’s austere, minimalist style divided critics of his time: some, following Henryk Bereza, praised his uncompromising engagement with deadly themes, while others dismissed him as a mere formalist. The aim of this article is to demonstrate the ways in which evil is articulated in Łuczeńczyk’s prose, to reintroduce his work to contemporary readers, and to renew scholarly interest in his works within Polish literary circles.