Class and cultural narratives the Upper Silesia case

Abstract

The character of the analysis undertaken in this work was determined by, so to say, two main factors. The first is the study’s specific subject matter in the form of literary work while the other - a theoretical perspective which we based our interpretation on. We concentrated mainly on the selected works of the authors particularly related to Upper Silesia for a reason. And it was no coincidence we used to this end the theoretical perspective of Raymond Williams as we believed the look at the literary world through the lens of the structures of feeling, provides interesting interpretive possibilities. Especially in the artistic form of a description of “a little homeland” we saw a wide range of examples richly illustrating the main assumptions of Williams’s concept. We also remembered about the role of literature in the creation of the community’s representation of a community, which both deserves and needs it, so emphasised by John Kirk. Among the variety of forms of communication literature is a special tool. It allows us to express our experiences as well as individual and social feelings related to real life situations on a number of levels. We hope we have managed to some extent to portray the “structure” of these feelings, so firmly attached to the quality of life in a concrete place. The place in which experiencing the present is so strongly connected with history, which, in turn, is still exerting an enormous influence on thinking about the future. We also intended to treat it as a place where it would be relatively clear to discern what in its culture is dominant, residual and what seems to emerge in it as a new quality, both giving hope and causing concern. Literature was to help us in our attempt at describing, at this very angle, the phenomenon of Upper Silesianness. [fragm. tekstu]