Abstrakt: | The monograph is comprised of four interrelated parts devoted to the literary
culture of Upper Silesia and the Dąbrowa Basin, including poets, prose writers
and publishing industry. In the first part, the author touches upon the
oeuvre of Lech Piwowar, Stanisław Wygodzki and Wacław Stacherski. Both
in these as well as the following essays, the author focuses first and foremost
on the poetics of the poems and the question of how much the extent to
which the writers in question resided in the region (their biographies testify
to their roots in small communities or “temporary” residence) influences the
manifestations of local patriotism as well as the manifestations of the need
to step outside of the local framework. Thus, both specific and general overviews
go beyond the strictly regional context. The second part, also devoted
to poetry, lacks the “historical” dimension of pre-war and wartime presence
of the writers. Stanisław Krawczyk, who existed and created on the border
between Upper Silesia and the Dąbrowa Basin, Grzegorz Słobodnik, who
was the co-founder of Reduta 56, as well as other poets of the “younger generations”
(e.g. Bartłomiej Majzel, Paweł Lekszycki, Wojciech Brzoska) at the
same time emphasized their place in the region and attempted to gain popularity
beyond Upper Silesia and the Dąbrowa Basin. The third part of the
monograph can be described as a Sosnowiec reconnaissance. Jan Pierzchała,
the author of Legenda Zagłębia (“The Legend of the Dąbrowa Basin”) for
years engaged with the general collective memory of local places. Edward
Kudelski, writing his novel Sosnowiec jest takim miastem jak Londyn,
Paryż, Wiedeń… (“Sosnowiec is a City Just Like London, Paris, Vienna…”),
attempted to sketch out the local topography and painted the fates of the
inhabitants of the Dąbrowa Basin. Moreover, in this part, the author recalls
the figure of Włodzimerz Wójcik, the author of Spotkania Zagłebiowskie
(“Meetings in the Dąbrowa Basin”) and Zagłębiowskie impresje (“Impressions
of the Dąbrowa Basin”), which documented his life-long attachment to the place of his birth. Part four constitutes a “dynamic” overview from the
perspective of sociology of literature. This part of the monographs includes
also a summary essay, which contains information concerning two departments
at the University of Silesia in Katowice which conduct research into
the literary life of Upper Silesia and the Dąbrowa Basin. This conclusion,
however, constitutes at the same time an introduction of sorts – an invitation
to a debate concerning the prospects of regional studies, strategy of
research, and institutional systematization of research plans. |