Post-Dependent Patriotic Narratives in Selected

This article is an attempt at re- flecting on whether patriotic narratives that appear in selected novels of Dorota Masłowska (Wojna polsko-ruska pod flagą biało-czerwoną), Dawid Bieńkowski (Biało-czerwony) and Ignacy Karpowicz (Niehalo) can be seen as post-dependent / postcolonial. Each of these texts raises the problem of contemporary Polish patriotism. Some significant parallels can be observed between the homeland narratives developed by characters in particular novels. These parallels can be the evidence of the post-dependent status of patriotic discourse represented in the newest Polish literature. The main characteristics shared by the narratives are: the tendency to define national identity in opposition to the collective enemy (both “external” and “internal”), presenting the problem of the defense of collective identity by using the war scheme, the tendency to compen- sate the internalized sense of humiliation by using national megalomania and searching for the essence of Polish identity and the source of national metanarrative in the prepartition era. At the end of the text it is also discussed why contemporary literary representations of patriotic discourse use similar schemes, duplicating and consolidating the stereotypes that they refer to.

Article Title	Type	Size
Lewandowska	[pdf]	[265 KB]