The Paradoxes of Time. The Illusoriness of the Revolution World in the Stanisław Brzozowski’s Novel Flames

Stanisław Brzozowski’s novel Flames was published not so long after the 1905 Revolution. The time and
the reminiscences aren’t inferior. The action of the novel focuses on the assassination of tsar Alexander II,
what is the reason of putting the main character in the Shlisselburg fortress. Michał Kaniowski, self-
-awared of the meaning of each moment, scrutinizes the idea of the revolution as a fight for freedom and
justice. He wants to make up for lost time, to condense the time in the lives of self-awared coevals, so
after its explosion, the time could fill with an essence the lives of the next generations. The most intensive
time in Kaniowski’s life is also an time. The contribution to the revolution is another issue — perfect
realisation of the insurgent myth, the nexus between the past and the evolved future. The fututre is connected
with the time, and the time according to novel’s philosophy is created by the act. Only the man,
who self-works, creates, sacrifies, loves — truly lives. But the human dream about the excellence with its
symbol — the revolution (also the spirituals revolution exculpatory from the bad, internal habits) cannot
come true. What is visible as the effect of the efforts? It is only the calamity, the blood of the innocents
and the qualms. But the end is the victory of the hope.