"Shades" (Polish: "Cienie") is one of Bolesław Prus' shortest micro-stories. Written in 1885, it comes from a period of pessimism in his life caused partly by the 1883 failure of Nowiny (News), a Warsaw daily that he had been editing for less than a year. Prus, the "lamplighter" who had striven to dispel darkness and its attendant "fear, madness, and mischief," had failed to sufficiently interest the public in Nowiny, his Positivist "observatory of societal facts," .Christopher Kasparek, "Two Micro-Stories by Bolesław Prus," The Polish Review, 1995, no. 1, p. 99.
Themes "Shades" is one of several micro-stories by Bolesław Prus that were inspired partly by 19th-century French prose poetry.Zygmunt Szweykowski, Twórczość Bolesława Prusa (The Writings of Bolesław Prus), p. 99.
Prus scholar Zygmunt Szweykowski writes:
Prus' micro-story "Shades" comprises two parts. The first half evokes the above-described atmosphere of dread, via Prus' description of an eternal contest between light and darkness. The second half describes the efforts of one of a number of nameless lamplighters to dispel the darkness, for as long as his finite lifespan permits.
See also "Mold of the Earth" (a micro-story by Bolesław Prus). "The Living Telegraph" (a micro-story by Bolesław Prus). Prose poetry. "A Legend of Old Egypt" (Prus' first historical short story). Darkness.
References
Sources
Christopher Kasparek, "Two Micro-Stories by Bolesław Prus," The Polish Review, 1995, no. 1, pp. 99–103. Zygmunt Szweykowski, Twórczość Bolesława Prusa (The Writings of Bolesław Prus), 2nd ed., Warsaw, Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy, 1972. Barbara Bobrowska, "Latarnicy Wóycickiego i Prusa, czyli o 'fizjologii parabolicznej'" ("Wóycicki's and Prus' Lamplighters: 'parabolic physiology'"), in Małe narracje Prusa (Prus's Small Narratives), Gdańsk, słowo/obraz terytoria, 2004, pp. 113–34.