The End of a (Great) History of National Literature: From Nation-centric Literature to Small Canons

Authors

  • Marek Mikołajec University of Silesia in Katowice

Abstract

The author of the article poses a thesis on an end of the model of national literature, which dominated in the People’s Republic of Poland, and replacing narratives aimed at creating a stiff national discourse by the so-called “small canons” and “small narratives”. The article consists of a theoretical and a practical parts. In the first one, the author describes a shift from great narratives, consolidating a nation, to small narratives, supported by pan-national, humanistic, and comparative literary canons. In the practical part, Mikołajec interprets Ondraszek by Gustaw Morcinek, poems by Paweł Kubisz, and Pierwsza polka by Horst Bienek. He indicates that the foundation for opening a perspective of a new community in these books – an open community – is a paradoxical, universalist thinking, built upon Marxist and Hegelian understanding of history, and Christian ethics.

Published

2014-12-29

How to Cite

Mikołajec, M. (2014). The End of a (Great) History of National Literature: From Nation-centric Literature to Small Canons. Śląskie Studia Polonistyczne [Silesian Journal of Polish Studies], 5(1-2), 109–123. Retrieved from https://trrest.vot.pl/ojsus/index.php/SSP/article/view/3339