„Wielki spis marzeń, tęsknot i bzików” – PRL we wspomnieniach Agnieszki Osieckiej

Abstract

In my article, I give an analysis of Ugly Fortysomethings [Szpetni czterdziestoletni] by Agnieszka Osiecka treated as a testimony doubly entangled in longings. First of all because it is dictated by nostalgia and secondly because it triggers nostalgia in both younger and older readers. I answer the question of what characters, words and events Osiecka considered iconic: a key which enables the reconstruction of the everyday life of “beautiful twentysomethings” growing up in Poland during the Post-Stalin Thaw. My reflections are supported by the theories developed on the ground of autobiographical studies and memory studies. Thanks to these two methodologies I can refine writer’s memory type and narrative pattern which was created by Osiecka. Furthermore, I propose some new terms because her memoirs go beyond stabilized conventions and literary genres, making it difficult to fit them into the framework of the current discourse.