Between esoterism and science
The way in which the author of Book of Fire confuses his reader as to which of his protagonists' stories are real and which imagined also feels modern. He does not rely on vague insanity, but instead references scientifically described pathological states. Grabiński masterfully introduces that method in the short story Szamota's Mistress (Kochanka Szamoty). During one of his rendezvous with a mysterious and silent beauty, the protagonist notes:
Her body is covered in marks that are very similar to those I bear. In fact, our moles look completely identical.
Several similar details – especially Szamota's attempt to sting his lover with a needle, as a result of which he ends up hurting himself – allow one to suppose that the protagonist is suffering from a psychosis that makes him regard another, female, body as his own. Such is Stanisław Lem's interpretation, which he expresses in the afterword to the 1974 edition of the collection Incredible Story (Niesamowita opowieść).
The case of Szamota's Mistress implies that Grabiński considered the transition from psychology to parapsychology, from science to esoterism, as a fluent one. The author of The Problem of Czelawa (Problemat Czelawy) was as interested in magic and spiritism as in psychology and psychiatry, while his texts didn't show signs of distinction between those disciplines. Sometimes, this would bring about rather grotesque effects, just like in the novel Salamander (Salamandra), largely filled with lectures on magic, its history and ritualistic proceedings. A much more interesting example of this method is the multi-layered Shadow of Baphomet, with a detective story-like construction, whose solution is hidden in the sphere of mysterious, hypnotic, or spiritual effects on human psyche.
Lovecraft or Poe's disciple?
Grabiński tends to be described as the “Polish Lovecraft” or “Polish Poe,” but what mainly connects him with both authors is the genre – fantasy horror – and the most mastered literary form: short stories. What differs him from Lovecraft is the protagonist's psychological profile. Characters created by the American fantasist are usually passive, and when confronted with supernatural phenomena, they usually go mad. Grabiński, on the contrary, introduces active protagonists – also, or maybe even especially, when they are associated with a mental illness (Grot the Engine Driver).
E. A. Poe's detectives or experimenting hypnotists are much closer to the Polish author. The latter was however much less attracted to death and decay than the American master. Instead, he repeatedly introduced the theme of a consciousness transferred from the nether world – a realm which the author of The Pit and the Pendulum hardly ever referred to. Grabiński differs from both Americans in his frequent references to the sphere of sexuality. As Michał Budak notes, “the sexual intercourses of Grabiński's protagonists do lead them to loss of autonomy, parts of their identity, or even to death” – especially if that is a way in which a person contacts beings stronger than himself, such as an androgynous demon from the short story Fumes (Czad) or the titular protagonist of Salamander.
