Abstract
This article discusses the question of the Polish nation's self-definition in the Positivist period both in belles-lettres and in journalism, which were dependent to a great extent on the colonial discourse. It is argued that crucial metaphors of “wildness,” “savageness” or “backwardness” stem from orientalising labels created by the colonisers. Examination of this issue requires some basic introduction to historical and anthropological ideas which date back to the Age of Enlightenment. The aim of this paper is to shed light – by analysing literature examples such as Ludwik Powidaj, Cyprian Kamil Norwid, Maria Konopnicka, Eliza Orzeszkowa and Henryk Sienkiewicz – on the so called “colonial trauma” that has condemned the Polish image to resentful ideology. Furthermore, the paper will provide arguments in favour of subscribing to the postcolonial studies in Central and Eastern Europe.
Highlights
During recent years in Polish humanities many efforts have been taken – though still not enough – to postpone C
The purpose of the following part of this paper is to examine the parallel phenomenon of the self-colonising identity in Polish literary fiction and opinion journalism during the Positivist period, premised upon metaphors and labels conceived within colonial discourse
The presented revision leads to a conclusion about the need for postcolonial studies in the Central and Eastern Europe, a topic still controversial in contemporary humanities
Summary
During recent years in Polish humanities many efforts have been taken – though still not enough – to postpone C. Cavanagh’s diagnosis calling postcolonial Poland “a blank spot on the map of modern theory” Relations with the Russian, and afterwards Soviet, empire attract most of scholars’ attention as is proved by quite a huge interest in E. Relations to the discourse of other hegemonic powers that carried out partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth or – in other words – had begun colonisation don’t seem to attract such attention. I. Surynt, who examines German national and colonising constructions in the nineteenth century, is the one who introduces some incredibly important clues leading towards the alteration of this fact. In the ANNA KOŁOS - „Wilderness” as a metaphor for self-definition of the colonised subject
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