This book analyses articulations of cultural identity in the work of the twentieth-century Polish poet Jerzy Harasymowicz, concentrating on the ways in which his shifting perspectives on the Carpathian Lemko Region are used to address the dilemmas of power, hybridity and interethnic contact. Set against the background of communist Poland, the poems examined here challenge official narratives of identity, while exploring the possibilities and limits of self-creation in poetry. Constituting the first post-1989 reading of Harasymowicz’s verse, free from the constraints imposed by political censorship, this book provides a reinterpretation of the poet’s work and reconsiders his contested legacy. By framing the discussion within the context of postcolonial studies, the author explores the usefulness of this approach in reassessing cultural representations of Polish national identity and raises broader questions about the ability of postcolonial theory to redefine the established notions of national literature and culture.
Read more
Analyses articulations of cultural identity in the work of the twentieth-century. This book provides a reinterpretation of the poet's work and reconsiders his contested legacy.
Contents: Jerzy Harasymowicz as an overlooked poet of Poland – Postcolonial theory as a critical approach – Cultural identity and contact zone in Jerzy Harasymowicz’s life and work – Polish literature and postcolonial studies with regard to Harasymowicz’s poetry – Gender identity vs. cultural identity – Representations of multiple homelands – Shared Lemko-Polish-Ukrainian history – Borderland discourse, representations of Operation Vistula (1947) and Poland’s communist history – Contact zone identities vs. the communist-era discourses of identity – Present and the future of Polish postcolonial studies.
Read more

Product details

ISBN
9783034308328
Published
2012
Publisher
Peter Lang AG, Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften
Weight
410 gr
Height
225 mm
Width
150 mm
Age
P, 06
Language
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Heftet

Author

Biographical note

Ewa Stańczyk is Assistant Professor of Polish Studies in the Department of Russian and Slavonic Studies at Trinity College Dublin. She is a graduate of the University of Manchester, where she received her PhD in Polish Studies. Her research interests include Polish and Eastern European culture and history, postcolonial theory and memory studies.