„Oswajanie” i „nieswojość”. Krajobraz do opowiedzenia

Abstract

The article concerns the way in which the cultural landscape of the so-called Recovered Territories was “tamed” after 1945 and today. The author juxtaposes the diagnosis of Jacek Kolbuszewski with Olga Tokarczuk’s contradictory opinion. In his article “Oswajanie krajobrazu kulturowego. Z problematyki integracji kulturowej na Ziemiach Odzyskanych” [Taming cultural landscape. On the problem of cultural integration on the Recovered Territores] (1988), Kolbuszewski states that the process of integration was successfully completed in the second half of the 1950s. Tokarczuk’s essay “Bezimienny krajobraz” [Nameless landscape] (included in the book Nieswojość [strangeness], 2019) contradicts the thesis of successful adaptation in the ‘post-German’ territories. According to Tokarczuk, the prerequisite for such adaptation is the recognition of the inhabited space as one’s own, which is achieved through the naming of the ‘nameless landscape’ and the stories about the place. Christopher Tilley’s concept of cultural landscape, which emphasises the relationship between narratives and space, resonates with this position. In reference to this concept and using the illustation of Filip Springer’s reportage as well as Krzysztof Fedorowicz’s novel, the author of the article demonstrates how contemporary literature concerning the Lower Silesia develops a bond with the place and tames the ‘post-German’ landscape on new terms.