O dwoistości międzywojennego portretu Poleszuka. Literatura – publicystyka – zapisy badań terenowych

Abstract

The article deals with the diverse images of Polishchuk in Polish writing in the interwar period. The author analyses selected texts of literary prose (A. F. Ossendowski), journalistic (J. Nowakowski) and ethnographical works (J. Obrębski). As we may see, Ossendowski in his popular novel In Polish jungle (1935) offered the mythical portrait of Polishchuk. The legend of so-called “forest people” was also very popular in Polish fictional literature (J. Weyssenhoff, M. Rodziewiczówna). Readers favored the artistic image of an inhabitant of Polesia. There were some polemics arguments about the literary image of Polishchuk in the Polish newspapers (for example J. Nowakowski’s article The letter from Polesia published in the periodical “Marchołt” in 1936). The more actual observations of Polesia and its culture were presented by B. Malinowski’s pupil – J. Obrębski in his ethnographical study (1934–1936). His field exploration provided more legitimate facts and image of living conditions and customs of Polishchuks and therefore did not affirm provide the myth of them.