Na pograniczach, kresach i poza granicami. Studia

Abstract

The present volume of studies comprises twenty-three studies that address different aspects of “borderlands” in the period spanning two hundred years (the nineteenth and twentieth centuries). In territorial terms, the studies concern the so-called Eastern marches as well as exile and regional spaces. Apart from the sketches on major writers of Polish positivism (Sienkiewicz in particular), the interpretations focus on texts of authors from Vilnius and Lithuania, both in the interwar decades and in contemporary times. A prominence is given to the poets of “Żagary” group. The key critical category assumed in the book is “borderland”, and this, in the author’s intention, has been done to highlight semantic and interpretive richness of the term. In fact, the category is introduced in its two variants: as “borderland” and – often used and abused – “marches”. Instrumental as it is for the studies of a significant part of Polish literature, the term “marches” should be questioned for its ideological connotations, expansive Polonocentrism, and excessive claims. Therefore, the fact that “borderland” appears in the title as its first component is by no means accidental. Although both terms overlap in their meanings, they are not treated as synonyms. Historically accepted and emotionally expressive, the word “marches” harbours a strong Polonocentric note; “borderland” gives a multi-perspective picture of the represented world. Resentments connected with the marches are the product of a peculiar – romantic and at the same time conservative – vision of Eastern part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. “Borderland” connotes the co-existence of ethnic groups, cultures and religions. Myths of the marches envision lost Arcadia (“the country of one’s childhood”), places that had to be abandoned and were doomed to destruction. Such a reasoning used to breed defensive attitudes, desires for restoration and – often – xenophobia. Conversely, the category of “borderland” – assuming the equality of ethnic subjects and dialogue of cultures– creates more diversified interactions. Of course, thinking in the spirit of “borderland” does not eliminate conflicts – on the contrary, they exists as potentialities, especially in regions where arbitrarily drawn state borders divide ethnic communities. However, the above-mentioned polemical dimension of the problem should not overshadow the main – research and interpretive – goals of the book. The studies included in the volume focus on various aspects of borderland literature, on analysis of selected works and, last but not least, on peculiarities of literary representations. Thus, the borderland landscape comes to be seen as a factor contributing to the emergence of new, distinct literary forms. Among the works analyzed there are: Henryk Sienkiewicz’s historical novels (mainly his “Trilogy”), Eliza Orzeszkowa’s novels on peasants (“Lowland”, ”Dziurdziowie” and “The Lout”), Władysław Łozinski’s excellent but undeservedly forgotten novella “Madonna Busowiska”, Józef Weyssenhoff’s novel about landowners “The Sable and the Maiden” (a postcolonial reading), poetry of “Żagary” group, contemporary poetry from Vilnius, and Zbigniew Żakiewicz’s “borderland” novel “Bitterness and Sea Salt”. The present volume continues the problems discussed in two earlier books: “Sketches of Vilnius” (2002) and “In the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and in Vilnius” (2010). Complementing them and concentrating on similar topics, “In the Borderlands, in the Marches, and Beyond” focuses on yet different cultural and literary material, and significantly develops earlier ideas and critical perspectives