{"id":9858,"date":"2026-09-29T11:45:04","date_gmt":"2026-09-29T09:45:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/serwisnaukowy.uw.edu.pl\/en\/?p=9858"},"modified":"2026-10-01T12:21:45","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T10:21:45","slug":"a-keen-ear-for-the-doll-listening-to-boleslaw-pruss-famous-novel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/serwisnaukowy.uw.edu.pl\/en\/a-keen-ear-for-the-doll-listening-to-boleslaw-pruss-famous-novel\/","title":{"rendered":"A keen ear for The Doll: Listening to Boles\u0142aw Prus\u2019s famous novel"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Interpreting the 19th-century soundscape offers a new way of looking at the relationship between Stanis\u0142aw Wokulski, the novel\u2019s ambitious protagonist, and Izabela \u0141\u0119cka, the aristocratic woman he falls in love with. It exposes the hypocrisy of the salon \u2013 and shows why sound can be such a powerful way of making sense of reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Literary scholars have traditionally viewed the realist novel as a genre dominated by sight. We all remember the descriptions of characters, buildings, and clothing from our school days. But Dr. Magdalena Krzy\u017canowska of the University of Warsaw\u2019s Faculty of Polish Studies challenges that assumption in her book In the World of Sounds: Listeners in Polish Prose from 1864 to 1918<\/em>. Her work draws on the international, interdisciplinary fields of sound studies and audioanthropology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was particularly interested in whether we could spot patterns in the ways different writers \u2013 Boles\u0142aw Prus, Maria Konopnicka, and W\u0142adys\u0142aw Stanis\u0142aw Reymont \u2013 write about sound. I wanted to understand how they perceived it, what meanings they attached to it, and what this can tell us about the world their characters \u2013 and their readers \u2013 inhabited,\u201d says Dr. Magdalena Krzy\u017canowska.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Krzy\u017canowska went beyond simply looking for onomatopoeia \u2013 words that imitate sounds. She examined how acoustic phenomena are represented in literary texts and how they affect the people who experience them. To do so, she used the concept of the audiosphere \u2013 the acoustic environment that surrounds us and is shaped by the sounds around us, from speech and noise to\u2026 silence. A key concept in her research is the point of listening<\/em> (analogous to the point of view): the character\u2019s spatial position as an active listener and interpreter of auditory stimuli.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Doll TV series: Tomasz Schuchardt as Stanis\u0142aw Wokulski and Sandra Drzymalska as Izabela \u0141\u0119cka. Photo: Robert Pa\u0142ka \/ Netflix<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Prus\u2019s Ear<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Prus has traditionally been seen as a writer who privileges sight over the other senses, with characters who keenly observe the world around them. Dr. Krzy\u017canowska\u2019s research tells a different story. For the author of The Doll<\/em>, observation is not just about looking \u2013 it is about listening, too. Prus himself wrote about this in his notes, describing attention as focusing the senses and the mind on a particular stimulus while tuning out the noise in the background.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPrus understood observation as both looking and listening. Wokulski is our main observer \u2013 the character we follow most closely. He enters the city as an outsider, stepping into a new world and watching the aristocracy. Prus shows us how Wokulski experiences these unfamiliar spaces and gradually learns to read them. And that\u2019s where hearing becomes crucial. The aristocratic world of The Doll<\/em> is a world of spectacle, governed by conventions and full of social games. People rarely say what they really mean. Much happens behind the scenes, so you need a keen ear to catch a false note in someone\u2019s voice, a whispered conversation, or even something not meant for you to hear,\u201d says the researcher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Prus\u2019s characters, their ears often prove more reliable than their eyes. Sight can be fooled by appearances and illusions. Hearing, by contrast, picks up subtle signals \u2013 and sometimes catches danger before it arrives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Boles\u0142aw Prus in the student uniform of the Main School in Warsaw, 1871. Photo: Konrad Brandel \/ Public domain<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Stanis\u0142aw Witkiewicz, portrait of Boles\u0142aw Prus, 1887. Source: Tygodnik Illustrowany, 1887, series 4, vol. 10, no. 255, p. 324<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The sounds of suffering<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Prus portrays Stanis\u0142aw Wokulski as a keen listener to the city\u2019s audiosphere. What he hears \u2013 and how he experiences it \u2013 changes with the places he moves through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Walking through Warsaw\u2019s poorest neighborhoods, including Powi\u015ble, he hears exhausted horses whinnying, gravel crunching underfoot, and the groans and moans of people doing hard physical labor. Dr. Krzy\u017canowska points out that Wokulski picks up on \u201csounds of suffering\u201d coming not just from people and animals, but from the world around him as a whole. The pain he hears resonates with his own inner turmoil, producing what Prus called wsp\u00f3\u0142d\u017awi\u0119czno\u015b\u0107<\/em> \u2013 a kind of emotional resonance or \u201csounding together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWokulski hears sounds of suffering not simply because people groan with pain as they work. The whole world seems to cry out and ask for help \u2013 people, animals, horses, even the pavement beneath their feet. It resonates with Wokulski\u2019s own suffering, leading him to empathize with what he hears \u2013 that is, to experience wsp\u00f3\u0142d\u017awi\u0119czno\u015b\u0107<\/em> \u2013 \u201csounding together.\u201d He can see it, hear it, think it through, and draw conclusions from it. Sound gives him access to a reality beyond the spectacle he encounters, somewhat from the outside, in aristocratic salons,\u201d says Dr. Krzy\u017canowska.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Wokulski steps into the courtyard of a tenement building, he hears the tap-tap of a shoemaker\u2019s hammer, pigeons cooing, \u201cthe monotonous sounds of a pianoforte and a shrill soprano singing scales could be heard: \u2018Do re mi fa\u2026\u2019\u201d Then comes \u201ca strong masculine bass voice.\u201d Then he hears \u201can unmistakable sound, and a stream of water poured down from the third floor, hitting the outstretched head of Mrs. Krzeszowska and splashing all over the yard.\u201d Wokulski thinks to himself, \u201cA cheerful house, no doubt about it.\u201d The building\u2019s audiosphere is made up of the noises of everyday life, while shouts, calls, and the sound of water being thrown become audible traces of the conflicts between its residents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The aristocratic salons \u2013 also brought to life in Pawe\u0142 Ma\u015blona\u2019s TV adaptation \u2013 tell a different story. Despite his exceptionally sharp ear, Wokulski reveals that he has not mastered the unwritten rules of upper-class society. His social awkwardness comes through in conspicuous sounds: he knocks into a tray, announcing his arrival at a party with a crash, or suddenly chokes at the dinner table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the world of 19th-century social conventions, the right to make yourself heard was a privilege of the elite. Those from lower social ranks were expected to know their place \u2013 and keep quiet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCulture shapes what we hear \u2013 and what we don\u2019t. But there\u2019s another important point: even the right to make a sound has cultural meaning. In the TV series, for example, when the aristocrats party in Zas\u0142awek, they\u2019re constantly breaking things, smashing things, shouting, behaving in ways that are hardly refined. But they\u2019re allowed to. When Wokulski chokes at dinner, which is a perfectly normal human reaction, or accidentally bumps into a waiter carrying a tray, something that can happen to anyone, it\u2019s immediately noticed and ridiculed. He\u2019s not allowed to draw attention to himself, because that only highlights how out of place he is. He has no right to make mistakes. He\u2019s not supposed to be loud,\u201d says the researcher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Aleksander Gierymski\u2019s illustration shows Warsaw residents strolling through \u0141azienki, the summer residence of King Stanis\u0142aw August. On the terrace in front of the Palace on the Isle, a woman with children feeds the swans, while a lady walks by with her dog. The woodcut was published in Tygodnik Powszechny in 1884, No. 37 (September 2\/14), p. 585. Source: National Museum in Warsaw<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Aleksander Gierymski, Piaskarze (Sand Gatherers), 1887. Source: National Museum in Warsaw<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Krakowskie Przedmie\u015bcie on Corpus Christi, 1895. Photo: Konrad Brandel \/ Museum of Warsaw<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The main avenue of the Saxon Garden, 1890s. Photo: Konrad Brandel \/ Museum of Warsaw<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Market in the Old Town Market Square, c. 1890. Artist unknown. Source: Museum of Warsaw<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The Mariensztat Market and Pancer Viaduct, between 1890 and 1905. Source: Library of Congress<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Theatre Square in Warsaw, c. 1900, looking toward the National Theatre. Source: Library of Congress<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Izabela\u2019s keen ear<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Izabela \u0141\u0119cka listens very differently from Wokulski. Prus explicitly describes her as having a \u201cquick ear.\u201d For her, listening is part of the social games and seduction of the salon. Miss \u0141\u0119cka can listen to someone with such intense attention that she seems to \u201clong to drink up the speaker\u2019s soul.\u201d \u2013 a learned social skill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBoth Wokulski and \u0141\u0119cka have a good ear, but what\u2019s interesting is that they listen to slightly different things, and in slightly different ways. For Izabela, listening is part of the performance, part of seduction. She listens very closely to the person she\u2019s talking to and makes it clear that she\u2019s engaged. That\u2019s part of the social game. \u0141\u0119cka is constantly surrounded by people and a world built on appearances \u2013 something, let\u2019s say, detached from reality,\u201d Dr. Krzy\u017canowska explains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Netflix\u2019s new series, Izabela is no longer portrayed as a passive doll. This new interpretation gives her a voice and puts her physicality front and center. She expresses her emotions through sudden screams and raw vocal expression. In doing so, she breaks with the 19th-century stereotype of the \u2018well-bred\u2019 woman, symbolically asserting her own agency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBeing loud can be held against you, but it can also be a sign of privilege. Women who demanded their rights were called shrill and criticized for shouting, because women were expected to behave differently. Suddenly, they were taking over space that wasn\u2019t meant for them. A scream draws attention to the body, and from a 19th-century perspective, that was not desirable, especially for women. They weren\u2019t supposed to put their bodies on display in public, particularly women from the upper classes. This comes through very clearly in the scene where Sandra Drzymalska opens her mouth wide as she screams. The sound seems to come from deep inside her, and I think that captures very well what a scream can mean socially. It\u2019s a sudden assertion of the self, of the body \u2013 a way of pushing your emotions and experiences out into the world. It can be read as an act of emancipation, because being loud, being noisy, draws attention. It makes us see the agency being expressed,\u201d says the researcher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Jan Feliks Piwarski, Pa\u0142ac Kazimierzowski czyli Liceum Warszawskie, from the series Kram malowniczy warszawski czyli obrazy miejscowe z ubieg\u0142ych czas\u00f3w\u2026, Warsaw, 1859. Source: National Museum in Warsaw<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The Main School building, 1902. Source: Public domain<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The gate of the University of Warsaw, c. 1911. Source: Public domain<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Eavesdropping as a key to reality<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

A pivotal scene takes place on a train, when Wokulski overhears Izabela and Starski speaking in English. What matters here is not what he sees, but what he hears. He listens to the tone of their voices and realizes that their light, easy conversation conceals something deeply compromising. The illusion he has built up comes crashing down. His reaction says it all: \u201cCheat!\u2026 Cheat!\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eavesdropping and listening are recurring ways of getting at the truth in Prus\u2019s work. By listening in on conversations, his characters can step back from the situation, check whether rumors are true, see through appearances, and get to the heart of what is really going on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sounds of the series<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Sound is a key part of how the six-part The Doll<\/em> series builds tension. In some of the most dramatic scenes, what happens is deliberately kept off-screen. When Tomasz \u0141\u0119cki shoots a horse, for example, the camera stays on Izabela\u2019s terrified face. We hear the gunshot, but we never see what caused it. For a moment, we\u2019re left wondering: what just happened? The sound is our only clue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The series also plays up the contrast between the quiet, almost invisible presence of the lower classes and the loud, rowdy revelry of the aristocracy in Zas\u0142awek. The ominous score adds another layer, creating a sense that the social order is beginning to unravel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe music is hugely important in the series. At different moments, we hear music that is serious, dark, foreboding, and unsettling\u2014sometimes slow, sometimes fast. It signals danger and the breakdown of the world as people knew it,\u201d says Dr. Krzy\u017canowska.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sight or sound?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Returning to a literary classic through the lens of sound studies<\/em> reveals the multilayered sonic world of Boles\u0142aw Prus\u2019s novel, while paying attention to its audiosphere teaches us to listen more closely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an age dominated by visual overload and image-driven culture, The Doll<\/em> reminds us that the most important meanings may be hiding beyond what we can see.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A feature-film adaptation of The Doll<\/em> (2026), directed by Maciej Kawalski, has just hit theaters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Doll (2026), directed by Maciej Kawalski, starring Marcin Doroci\u0144ski as Stanis\u0142aw Wokulski. Source: Kino \u015awiat press materials<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The Doll (2026), directed by Maciej Kawalski, starring Marek Kondrat as Ignacy Rzecki. Source: Kino \u015awiat press materials<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The Doll (2026), directed by Maciej Kawalski, starring Kamila Urz\u0119dowska as Izabela \u0141\u0119cka. Source: Kino \u015awiat press materials<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Translation note:<\/strong> All English translations of passages from Boles\u0142aw Prus\u2019s The Doll<\/em> quoted in this article are from David J. Welsh\u2019s translation, revised edition, with an introduction by Stanis\u0142aw Bara\u0144czak (New York Review Books, 2011).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The text was originally published in Polish on the Serwis Naukowy UW website on September 29, 2026.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pawe\u0142 Ma\u015blona\u2019s new screen adaptation of The Doll has sparked a flurry of debate about how we see Boles\u0142aw Prus\u2019s 19th-century masterpiece. Critics and viewers alike have focused on the visuals \u2013 from Sandra Drzymalska and Tomasz Schuchardt\u2019s standout performances to the lavish production design. But look only at the images, and you\u2019ll miss an important part of the story. Literary scholars argue that Prus\u2019s prose isn\u2019t just meant to be watched \u2013 it demands to be heard.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":9859,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[175],"tags":[1923,1926,1925,1928,1924,1927,1922,1387],"class_list":["post-9858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-literary-studies","tag-audioanthropology","tag-audiosphere","tag-boleslaw-prus","tag-faculty-of-polish-studies","tag-institute-of-polish-literature","tag-sound-studies","tag-the-doll","tag-university-of-warsaw"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/serwisnaukowy.uw.edu.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/serwisnaukowy.uw.edu.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/serwisnaukowy.uw.edu.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serwisnaukowy.uw.edu.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serwisnaukowy.uw.edu.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9858"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/serwisnaukowy.uw.edu.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9858\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9878,"href":"https:\/\/serwisnaukowy.uw.edu.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9858\/revisions\/9878"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serwisnaukowy.uw.edu.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9859"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/serwisnaukowy.uw.edu.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serwisnaukowy.uw.edu.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serwisnaukowy.uw.edu.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}