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Miranda (novel)
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Wikipedia article
'Miranda' is a novel written by Antoni Lange in 1924. It was the last great work of Lange before he died , and his most famous book today. It is said that 'Miranda' is an "occultic fiction"A. Niewiadomski, W krgu fantazji Antoniego Langego, w: A. Lange, Miranda i inne opowiadania, Warszawa 1987, p. 227 and a "romance ranked to a philosophical treaty". The novel is also known as "novelty writing" which conciliates dystopia and utopia.A. Smuszkiewicz, Zaczarowana gra. Zarys dziejw polskiej fantastyki naukowej, Pozna 1982, p. 141 It is a matter of opinion to classify the novel to modernism or interwar period.
Explanation of the novel's title
The title of the novel refers to the person of Miranda from Shakespeare's play called 'The Tempest'. 'Miranda' is also full of allusions to many classics such as: 'Men Like Gods' by H. G. Wells, 'The City of the Sun' by Tommaso Campanella, 'Lenore' by Edgar Allan Poe, 'Genezis z Ducha' by Juliusz Sowacki, poems by Cyprian Kamil Norwid, writings of Friedrich Nietzsche (criticism of concept of the bermensch), Arthur Schopenhauer, Plato and Sanskrit epics of ancient India.
Plot summary
The novel tells about ideal civilisation of powerful mages which have invited paranormal skills like telepathy, levitation and mediumism. The Brahmins value anarchy, freedom, peace, free love and anti-work. Their country is organized by Ministry of Love, Ministry of Power and Ministry of Wisdom, and they use a strange substance classified as Nivridium in order to their self-perfect idea. The main plot is the history of love of Polish emigrant Jan Podoboczny (Lange's own 'porte-parole') to the materialization of an ideal woman named Damayanti. A tragic end of their romance comes from clash between physical and spiritual sides of human existence. In the last chapter of the novel, Damayanti sacrifices her body in order to let her spirit fly to higher stage of consciousness.
Miranda is a Scottish spiritual medium, who lives in Warsaw. She can contact the soul of Damayanti and materialize the mysterious person of Lenore, who meets Jan Podoboczny when he is close his death. In the moment when Damayanti dies, Miranda disappears.
Publication history
The novel was translated into English (in 1968), French, Spanish and Italian.
References
Category:1924 novels
Category:Polish novels
Category:Novels set in Warsaw
Category:20th-century Polish novels
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