Literackie trajektorie pamięci. Wokół Matki Makryny Jacka Dehnela i recepcji jej bohaterki

Abstract

The article is an attempt to analyze the novel Matka Makryna by Jacek Dehnel in the context of the literary reception of its title character – a false Uniate nun who, during in the 19th century, penetrated the collective Polish imagination as national martyr. The author puts forward the thesis that the long-standing presence of Makryna Mieczysławska in Polish literature and historical-literary discourses is a case of appropriating the alleged nun’s voice by male authors and modeling her experience to suit the recipients’ expectations. Thus, Dehnel’s novel is read as polemic dialogue with earlier readings of Makryna’s story, as well as it is the author’s self-reflection on the processes of historical cognition and the hermeneutical possibilities of literary fiction and writerly empathy.