TY - JOUR N2 - This is an interpretation of Ireneusz Iredyński’s short novel Manipulation in the context of acedia, a state of depressive indolence and spiritual apathy. This psychological condition received its earliest description in the writings of the Desert Fathers (most notably Evagrius Ponticus), Christian hermits who lived in the Egyptian desert in the 3rd-4th Century A.D. The article lists and analyzes some of the acedic symptoms and motifs that recur in the experience of the main character of Manipulation (i.e. temptation by demons, suicidal fantasies, imprisonment in a cell); it also examines the temporal structure of the narration. For intertextual reference the discussion reaches out to the writings of Evagrius Ponticus and Fyodor Dostoevsky’s The Possessed. L1 - http://czasopisma.pan.pl/Content/113541/PDF/RL%203-19%207-WRONISZEWSKI.pdf L2 - http://czasopisma.pan.pl/Content/113541 PY - 2019 IS - No 3 (354) EP - 362 DO - 10.24425/rl.2019.130048 KW - Polish literature of the 20th century KW - the novella KW - the outsider in fiction KW - acedia KW - demonism KW - Desert Father KW - Ireneusz Iredyński (1939-1985) A1 - Wroniszewski, Maksymilian PB - Polska Akademia Nauk Oddział w Krakowie Komisja Historycznoliteracka PB - Uniwersytet Jagielloński Wydział Polonistyki DA - 2019.12.10 T1 - Ireneusz Iredyński and acedia SP - 345 UR - http://czasopisma.pan.pl/dlibra/publication/edition/113541 T2 - Ruch Literacki ER -