Travesty of Wartime Experiences in Dreams Based on The Secret Diary of Miron Białoszewski

Miron Białoszewski repeatedly stressed that the Warsaw Uprising was the most influential experience
in his life. The events of wartime often returned in his memories, however, they took on a unique form of
dreamlike visions in The Secret Diary. Reminiscences of war, processed by the imagination of the author
and recognised in the form of a dream, caused the necessity of re–experiencing the uprising days. According
to Białoszewski this kind of dreams (like those mentioned in The Secret Diary) are like “picking from
the past harmless bombs that no longer kill…”. Dreams and nightmares published in the journal include a number of features that can be described
as a poetics dream. For instance: distortion of space, absurd situations, unreal threads. Problems and shape
of Białoszewski’s memories are perfect indicators of both — memory work process and operation of
human subconscious. It was attempted to be shown in this paper.