The Male between Matriarchy and Sadism

Abstract

The Polish culture suggests to the men two stances: subjugation to the (real or imaginary) female power or, to the contrary, aggressive elimination of “femineity.” The article analyzes these stances as presented in certain works of fiction and their worlds. Femineity is eliminated under the model of homosocial sadism, which must be distinguished both from the traditional patriarchy and from – denied or sublimed – homosexuality. The issue is first discussed based on Wzgórze psów by Jakub Żulczyk; then it is tracked back to the works displaying similar psychosocial structures, even though they may not obviously belong to the same historical literary community (despite their chronological proximity). These works are: Zwał by Sławomir Shuty, Ciało obce by Rafał Ziemkiewicz, White Raven by Andrzej Stasiuk, Morfina by Szczepan Twardoch and His Current Woman by Jerzy Pilich. The theoretical tools applied come from politicized versions of the late psychoanalysis and schizoanalysis (along the Lacan – Deleuze – Theweleit line).