In the novel by the Polish writer Stefan Żeromski (1864–1925) “The History of Sin,” the story is told of a young woman who, having fallen in love without the permission of the church and family, rejected by society, slides down to the bottom of life. The philosophical and ethical side of the events is the subject of an internal discussion the author holds with himself and with his characters.
With harsh, sometimes even deliberately straightforward candor, the author tells the “story of sin”—the story of a young woman who, having fallen in love without the permission of the church and family, rejected by society, sinks into the depths of life, into the whirlpool of prostitution and banditry. Why? Are the cruel human laws to blame for this, or does the root of evil lie in the nature of things—in the predetermined fragility of happiness—in the sinful nature of the human being?”