Hybryda różnicująca rzeczywistość : o "Lubiewie" Michała Witkowskiego

Abstract

The author proposes an interpretation of Witkowski’s Lubiewo, a chronicle of the life of homosexuals in Polish People’s Republic, and argues that it is not merely a record of homosexual excesses remembered with nostalgia by the participants, but a barometer of the sensitivity of our culture, in particular in view of the thick layers of aggression it conceals. According to the author, Lubiewo can be considered as a potential insight into the so called “normal” reality, not as a threat. Moreover, Witkowski’s novel is analysed as a description of practices of a particular community, which by the eccentric behaviour of its members rejects and aborts all attempts to impose on it some social senses. In other words, it effectively avoids a reduction to a simple social function. The author believes that Witkowski demonstrates a serious problem inherent in our times – the problem of resentment. While not all of us are queers, we all may become hybrids with queer roots. What is significant in this discussion is the focus on humiliation or masochism, which in the author’s opinion provides the key to the interpretation of Lubiewo.