Stacja kolejowa jako miejsce graniczne na drodze do nowoczesności. "Sól ziemi. Powieść o cierpliwym piechurze" Józefa Wittlina

In depictions of World War I, railroads have a prominent position – both sides used them to transport soldiers, equipment and supplies. The motif of railway cars and stations – a common element of war reality – can be found also in literature, which is a record of humanist reflection on the character of this conflict. The novel "Sól ziemi. Powieść o cierpliwym piechurze" [Salt of the earth. A novel about a persistent walker] by Polish writer Józef Wittlin, which only seems to be a story of a psychological transformation caused by war, has been analyzed for this trope. The work was first published in 1935 and is based on Wittlin’s own memories from his service in the Austro-Hungarian army during the Great War. These experiences have been transposed into the character of Piotr Niewiadomski, a simple man and simple-minded soldier from godforsaken back of beyond. His journey from a small country station to a big city with a grand, imposing railway station is a story about creation and destruction of the world. By means of the railway ordinary subjects of the Austrian emperor are moved into a new dimension of reality, in which humanity has been reduced to the role of replaceable parts of immense machineries – railway and war. Railway station has been described in this novel as a border on the way to modernity, at the same time in the process of dehumanization and reification. The present paper is itself a work situated on tri-border area of three research fields – history of literature, interpretation and anthropology.