Abstrakt: | Unlike most of the immigration novels created by contemporary Polish American female writers, How to Get into the Twin
Palms written by Karolina Waclawiak, does not focus on the hardships of assimilation into American culture but depicts
experiments with ethnic cross-dressing. Waclawiak, a representative of the so-called one-and-a half generation of Polish
immigrants from the 1980s Solidarity wave, reinvents the immigration story as her protagonist, Zosia, a Polish American
resident of Los Angeles, yearns to become Russian in order to be granted entrance to the mysterious and appealing Russian
nightclub. The protagonist’s transformation into Anya goes hand in hand with her exploration of the City of Angels, the
postmodern megalopolis with neon lights and pavements reaching the horizon. Thus, Zosia/Anya becomes a Californian
flâneuse, the urban scrutinizer and strolling observer of the what is known as the most photographed but least photogenic
city in the United States. In this context, the main aim of this presentation will be to explore Californian flânerie in Waclawiak’s
novel: while walking down the city streets the narrator flâneuse reflects on her home (Polish) culture, underscores
her status as an immigrant outsider, and delves into the questions of alienation as well as defamiliarization. Hence, one
may assume that flânerie itself contributes to the transformation of Waclawiak’s protagonist. |