EYE-TO-EYE INTERACTION IN JULIUSZ SLOWACKI'S 'THE SPIRIT KING' AND THE POETRY OF TADEUSZ MICINSKI

In this article poems by Tadeusz Micinski are juxtaposed with passages from Juliusz Slowacki's 'Król-Duch' (The Spirit King). Their analysis is concerned chiefly with the way they signal eye-to-eye interaction. The analysis has revealed two key issues. One is the subject's monitoring of his own gaze; the other is the subject's sensitivity to the presence of 'other' eyes and his reaction, the concentrated 'look back'. The latter is marked by tension characteristic of a situation in which a set of complementary roles of the dominant and dominated party is tried on and fixed. The stand-off reaches its dramatic height in the oscillating confrontation of the subject's eye whose ability to hold out and project its controlling gaze is put to the test by the besieging, intrusive gaze of the Other. Such eye-to-eye interactions seem to be crucial in determining key aspects of the subject's identity.