Druga wojna światowa w polskiej literaturze dziecięcej

Libri & Liberi, 2017

The paper analyses child character identity change presented in contemporary Polish children’s novels about the Holocaust. Using the category of play described by scholars such as Erving Go man, George Eisen, and Jerzy Cieślikowski, it is shown that the change of a protagonist’s identity from Jewish to non-Jewish and vice versa is a sort of play containing a set of rules, practices, stakes, etc. As it is described, the child Jewish identity is something determined by the surrounding (mainly Nazi authority) and then something fluid, not solid (as the protagonists mostly come from integrated Polish-Jewish backgrounds). Playing-out as coming out of normal life seems to be the only way to survive the terror of war and the Shoah. Identity fluidity is presented as a mechanism to show the protagonist as a universal character facing terrible events, which makes these novels readable for contemporary readers.

Canon Contitution and Canon Change in Children’s Literature, 2017

This chapter discusses the problematic situation of the Polish canon of children’s literature from a historical and educational perspective. It identifies three important and violent turning points in the history of Polish culture: the regaining of independence in 1918, the proclamation of the People’s Republic of Poland in 1945 and the end of communism in 1989. By comparing three Polish canons – from the interwar period, from the communist time and the present – the first part of the chapter highlights how these canons affected the development of the Polish literary system. The second part emphasizes the changes in Polish school education after 1999 which raised questions about the attitude towards the historical past and the future on the one hand, and the aims of canonical children’s literature on the other.

Interlitteraria, 2014

Literature for children and youth in a comparative perspective is a wide and complex problem. The issues in this article are organized mainly in relation to such problems and categories as cultural topography, comparative history of children's literature, cultural domination, international exchange, research on translation, on canon formation and multicultural education. We should analyse these theses selectively, especially when we see literature for children as a product of modern times, which has two bases: the classics for adults on the one hand, and the folklore on the other-two fields of creation that children's literature simply had at some time been compared to. As far as Poland is concerned, it is worth noting that initially French and German influences were dominant and shaped the themes of novels, fairy tales and didactic poetry for children. The child reader had contact with a rich canon(s) of translated literature from many languages also within the framework of Polish language and culture education. Undoubtedly, we could see that foreign literature is a particular preparation for children to receive other cultures and to develop a dialogue between other cultures even though cultural differences exist. Since people all over the world may have similar problems, foreign literature should help children as readers to comprehend others' experience.

Prima Educatione, 2021

This article is aimed at an analysis of a review of discourses of tradition and modernity in literature for children and youth in the situation of political entanglement in the communist system in post-war Poland (1945–1960). The analysis is based on a review of widely represented research described in texts focusing on history and literary criticism, in particular by scholars, who are concentrated on socialist realism – the period that was most painful to the Polish children’s literature and education. Three unique and clearly distinct sub-periods identified during this time are used to describe the political tackling of tradition and modernity in books for children and youth in the period and sub-periods in question. These are: “hard beginnings” (1944–1949), “centrally-controlled books” (1950–1955), and “following the Thaw” (1956–1960). simultaneously with this issue, a self-telling example of the convoluted fate of one of the bestknown protagonists of Polish classical book for th...

Filoteknos, 2021

The paper is an analysis of contemporary Polish children’s literature presenting Irena Sendler (1910–2008), a social worker who during World War II was one of the people helping Warsaw Jews persecuted by the Nazi regime. For her courageous actions in 1965 she was recognized as Righteous among the Nations by the State of Israel. Although her life was an inspiration for Renata Piątkowska’s All of My Mums (2013), the first Polish children’s biography of Sendler was published in 2018 (Anna Czerwińska-Rydel’s Lists in a Bottle: A Story about Irena Sendler). Later Ewa Nowak’s Kto uratował jedno życie... Historia Ireny Sendlerowej (Whosoever saved a single life... A Story about Ire- na Sendler) and Irena Sendlerowa: Magiczny koralik (Irena Sendler: A Magi- cal Bead) by Beata Ostrowicka were published. The paper focuses on the presentation of Sendler in children’s literature in the context of the 21st century discussion about relations between Poles and Jews during the Holocaust. She became a symbol of courageous Polish people helping persecuted Jews in the time of the Shoah and children’s authors present her in this manner, in most cases resisting the critical approach, as it was presented e.g. by Anna Bikont in the recently published biography for adults Sendlerowa: W ukryciu (Sendler: In Hiding). The analysis shows how contemporary Polish children’s literature interferes with political and historical debates about the contentious issue of Polish-Jewish relations during World War II.

2015

The present book “Poland – History, Culture and Society. Selected Readings” is the third edition of a collection of academic texts written with the intention to accompany the module by providing incoming students with teaching materials that will assist them in their studies of the course module and encourage further search for relevant information and data. The papers collected in the book have been authored by academic teachers from the University of Łodź, specialists in such fields as history, geography, literature, sociology, ethnology, cultural studies, and political science. Each author presents one chapter related to a topic included in the module or extending its contents. The book contains the extensive bibliography.

Children and Libraries

Promoting support for Allied Forces was a central theme of contemporary children’s literature in the eve of and during World War II; the body of work captures a surprisingly complex and conflicted view of armed conflict and nationhood.Amid the expected imperatives that American children scavenge scrap metal for war bonds and cozy stories of English children evacuated to safety in North America, there is nostalgia for pastoral Russia and an unabashed celebration of the Soviet collective effort. In one of the most charged depictions, a pair of dachshunds forced to wear Nazi uniforms outwit their master. An Austrian refugee, the creation of a refugee writer, pointedly informs a naïve French peasant boy: “There are a great many Germans who hated the Nazis, didn’t you know that?”1 before revealing his father was a prisoner at Dachau.

The goal of the article is to show the potential of the war metaphor applied in the picturebook medium and reflect upon the cultural premises of its use. The analysed material includes three Polish and two Scandinavian books, published within four years, 2011-2014: Pamiętnik Blumki (Blumka’s Diary, 2011) by Iwona Chmielewska, Powieki (The Eyelids, 2012) by Michał Rusinek and Ola Cieślak, Ostatnie przedstawienie panny Esterki (Miss Esterka’s Last Performance, 2014) by Adam Jaromir and Gabriela Cichowska, Lejren (The Camp, 2011) by Oscar K. and Dorte Karrebæk and Krigen (The War, 2013) by Gro Dahle and Kaia Dahle Nyhus.

Literary Journalism Studies, vol. 13, no. 1 & 2, 2021

Review of Magdalena Grzebalkowska's POLAND 1945. WAR AND PEACE. Translated from the Polish by John Markoff and Malgorzata Markoff. 2020