Chrześcijańskie próby interpretacji samotności

Abstract

Differentiating kinds of solitude in literature is not univocal. Marian Zawada brings about the division into three categories of ”solitude” – he distinguishes “loneliness, seclusion and the state of being alone”. Henri J. M. Nouven in turn accepts the division into solitude as such and loneliness, while Tomasz P. Terlikowski singles out “solitude of emptiness” and “solitude of fullness”. Most of differences deal with the terminology used. Every author brings about the basic division of solitude into solitude understood positively and negative solitude. Though, due to more often appearing in literature, we accepted, in the present article, the division proposed by P. Tillich, who divides the notion of solitude into “loneliness” and “seclusion”, nevertheless the division whose author is M. Zawada has also been considered. In relation to the differentiation proposed by P. Tillich the Polish author broadens the classification of solitude by introducing the new term “the state of being alone”. We proposed to include “the state of being alone” differentiated by him into the notion of seclusion, though we will devote a separate fragment of the article to its discussion.