| Abstrakt: |
Abstract: This paper is devoted to the process of signifying the so-called "Recovered Territories" in the Piast novel, a subgenre of the Polish historical novel. The literary and historiographical process of "writing the nation" (Homi K. Bhabha) takes place not only in contemporary literature, but is also part of historical discourses which, through national institutions and politics of history, promote a state-endorsed historical vision. Memory discourses, incorporating microhistory, life writing, local narrations, etc., co-shape this process. By means of analyzing how the Polishness of the "Recovered Territories" is constructed in the Piast novel, it becomes possible to demontrate that "writing the nation" has a processual, persuasive, and random character and is subject to political demands. The Piast novel as part of "national pedagogy" (again Bhabha´s term) was of special importance for the Polish authorities after the Second World War. They tried to reconnect the "Recovered Territories" with Poland through the invocation of the Piast dynasty, who a thousand years ago ruled over those lands. Moreover, the Piast novel allows grounding the results of the Yalta conference in mythical, historical, and symbolic images, through which the territorial reallocation becomes better understable as part of a historically justified compensation. The relevant texts by Karol Bunsch, Antoni Gołubiew or Władysław Jan Grabski inscribe themselves in the process of connecting the Northern and Western territories with Poland and, by means of becoming a cornerstone of a fantastic foundation narrative, react to an urge expressed by both the authorities and the general public. |
