Research Catalog

Title

Polish literature and national identity : a postcolonial landscape / Dariusz Skórczewski ; translated by Agnieszka Polakowska.

Author

Skórczewski, Dariusz

Publication

• Rochester, NY : University of Rochester Press, 2020.
• ©2020

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

Polakowska, Agnieszka

Description

x, 341 pages; 24 cm.

Summary

"Although for half a century East-Central Europe was part of the Soviet empire and was subject to its "civilizing" mission, its colonial status escaped the attention of most postcolonial critics. It still remains a blank spot in global studies of postcolonialism. In Polish Literature and Identity: A Postcolonial Landscape Dariusz Skórczewski argues for the advantages of applying postcolonial thought to Polish realities; at the same time, he modifes the theoretical framework worked out by other postcolonialists. The book seeks to reveal how Poland's two lines of experience-one of foreign hegemony since the late 1700s through 1989 (excluding a short period of sovereignty between the two world wars); and the other of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth as itself a pre-modern empire-have shaped the culture of contemporary Polish society. The book focuses on identity transformations as reflected in Polish literature and critical discourses. It opens up the question of the identity of a postcolonial nation in contemporary East-Central Europe where globalization and cosmopolitanism clash with growing national sentiments, making predictions about a speedy advent of a post-national era premature. The first few chapters are devoted to the postcolonial theorizing of Poland in the East Central European context. This part of the book seeks relevant language(s) and registers for the analysis of the cultural condition of East Central Europe as a part of the world which slipped most postcolonial critics' attention. The second part of the book (Chapters 7-11) deal with the effects of the colonial encounter on Poles' self-perception and perception of Others, as reflected in Romantic and modern Polish literature. The book closes with a Postscript titled "Three Warnings," outlining a critique of postcolonial theory and criticism"--

Series Statement

Rochester studies in East and Central Europe, 1528-4808

Uniform Title

• Essays. Selections. English
• Rochester studies in East and Central Europe.

Alternative Title

Essays.

Subject

• 1800-1999
• Postcolonialism in literature
• Postcolonialism
• Group identity
• Polish literature > 19th century > History and criticism
• Polish literature > 20th century > History and criticism
• Civilization
• Polish literature
• Poland > Civilization
• Poland

Genre/Form

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Language (note)

• Translated from the original Polish into English.

Contents

Prologue: How It All Began -- Through the Lens of Humanism, with a View to Transcendence -- Postcolonialism in Poland -- National Identity in a Postcolonial Framework: Necessary Clarifications and Opening Suggestions -- Literature as Compensation: Comprador Intelligentsia vis-à-vis the Hegemonic Discourse-Preliminary Theoretical Remarks -- Confronting the Romantic Legacy -- The Natives' Exclusion by the Empire's Poet? (Adam Mickiewicz, The Crimean Sonnets) -- Identity as an Object of Inquiry (Paweł Huelle's Castorp) -- The (East-)Central European Complex (Andrzej Stasiuk, On the Road to Babadag and -- Fado) -- Colonized Poland, Orientalized Poland: Postcolonial Theory and the "Other Europe" -- Slavic Issues with Identity: Marginal Notes to Maria Janion's Uncanny Slavdom -- The Melancholia of Borderlands Discourse -- Afterword: Three Warnings.

Call Number

JFE 22-2888

ISBN

• 9781580469784
• 1580469787

LCCN

2019035341

OCLC

1110441387

Author

Skórczewski, Dariusz, author.

Title

Polish literature and national identity : a postcolonial landscape / Dariusz Skórczewski ; translated by Agnieszka Polakowska.

Publisher

Rochester, NY : University of Rochester Press, 2020.

Copyright Date

©2020

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Series

Rochester studies in East and Central Europe, 1528-4808

Rochester studies in East and Central Europe.

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Language

Translated from the original Polish into English.

Chronological Term

1800-1999

Added Author

Polakowska, Agnieszka, translator.

Translation Of:

Translation of: Skórczewski, Dariusz. Essays. Selections. Teoria, literatura, dyskurs. Lublin : Wydawnictwo KUL, 2013 9788377026151 (DLC) 2013489250 (OCoLC)864198872

Research Call Number

JFE 22-2888