Issue 2 (64) 2025

2025

Publication date: 10.06.2025

Description

The publication of this volume was financed by the Jagiellonian University in Kraków – Faculty of Polish Studies.

Cover design: Maciej Godawa.

Licence: CC BY 4.0

Editorial team

Editor-in-Chief Monika Świerkosz

Executive Editor Tomasz Kunz

Issue content

Articles

Spięcia centro-peryferyjne. Kilka uwag o geografii pola literackiego

Elżbieta Rybicka

Wielogłos, Issue 2 (64) 2025, 2025, pp. 1-24

https://doi.org/10.4467/2084395XWI.25.009.21428

This article examines the contemporary dynamics of centre-periphery relations in the literary field. The initial hypothesis recognizes the strengthening polycentricity of he literary field and the simultaneous movement along the centre-periphery axis. The past decade, shaped by the state cultural policy from 2015 to 2023, has intensified independence from the centre and activated peripheral self-determination of cultural ideas. During this period, peripheral environments have strengthened their own resources and value infrastructure (including awards, institutional and media networks, publishing houses, and festivals), enabling them to function not merely in dependence on central authorities, but rather to create their own parallel circulations. The author argues for the inclusion of geographical factors in the diagnosis of the contemporary literary field, particularly the tensions and connections between the centre and the periphery. More specifically, the article analyses the regional offensive of Wydawnictwo Czarne ( includ ing Zbigniew Rokita, Aneta Prymaka-Oniszk, Joanna Wilengowska) and its psychosocial consequences –recognition instead of invalidation.

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Pejzaż miasta – Kraków Stanisława Przybyszewskiego i Henryka Siemiradzkiego

Hanna Ratuszna

Wielogłos, Issue 2 (64) 2025, 2025, pp. 25-47

https://doi.org/10.4467/2084395XWI.25.010.21429

This article presents the results of research on two strategies for viewing 19th-century Kraków as a modern city, a work of art, and a city of monuments–a historical testimony of the past. The study takes into account various ways of experiencing the city: geographical, anthropological, and performative. It includes an analysis of selected paintings, letters, essays, and novel excerpts by both artists, all linked by the concept of place and the phenomenon of the city. In the modernist period, the city was a space for cognition, a recognition of an entity revealing the characteristics of a walker, a flâneur, a traveller, an artist. The description employs research methods suited to both urban studies and travel writing studies, combining anthropological, aesthetic, and epistemological perspectives. Not only the concept of the subject appeared to be important, but also the strategy of discursive descriptions of the city as an open space. Although Przybyszewski and Siemiradzki never met in Kraków, they presented different strategies of “reading” and “writing” the city: egocentric, immersive (Przybyszewski) and collectible, historical (Siemiradzki). For them, the city was a “theatre” of secrets, reflecting the play of appearances and revealing the narcissistic traits of the subject. The analysis of these contrasting cognitive strategies of urban space and the creation of the subject helps us understand the stages of shaping the discourse on modernity.

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Wynajdywanie „narodowego miejsca” w polskich powieściach pouwłaszczeniowych

Dobromiła Kasprzyk

Wielogłos, Issue 2 (64) 2025, 2025, pp. 49-73

https://doi.org/10.4467/2084395XWI.25.011.21430

This paper attempts to reconstruct the process of the parallel invention of a national community and a “national place” (Michael Billig) in Polish novels written after the abolition-of-serfdom reforms carried out by foreign authorities. The issue is presented within the context of landownership conflicts between noble landowners and peasants who were freed from serfdom by foreign authorities. Excerpts from the novels of Eliza Orzeszkowa, Henryk Sienkiewicz, Bolesław Prus, Wacław Sieroszewski, Władysław Reymont, Maria-Jehanne Wielopolska, Maria Rodziewicz, Kazimierz Laskowski, and Franciszek Tuczyński are interpreted in light of the findings on post-enfranchisement social relations made by historians of the people’s history, such as Adam Leszczyński and Michał Rauszer. Among the literary phenomena discussed are the depiction of landed estates as an abstract homeland, portraying the territory as national due to its alleged cultural and historical value, and the use of the agrarian motif to symbolize the Polishness of natural elements. The motifs of “holding the land” in selected texts from 1874–1913 are presented as inextricably linked to the positivist postulate of grassroots work, leading to conclusions about the instrumental use of former serfs by the Polish national discourse.

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Wcielanie – językowe ciało chłopskie w twórczości Mariana Pilota

Aneta Płaza-Stępień

Wielogłos, Issue 2 (64) 2025, 2025, pp. 75-100

https://doi.org/10.4467/2084395XWI.25.012.21431

This article analyses the works of Marian Pilot, focusing on tracing the relationships between word and body (conceived as a socially and culturally marked product), which together form a linguistic-bodily construct perceived as a tool of memory and an expression of peasant culture. The discussion will centre on the linguistic forms used to articulate bodily experiences and the related word formation, which challenge conventional frameworks (including social and cultural ones) and activate the written word. This process allows for the revitalization and, at the same time, the emancipation of the peasant voice.

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Taoizm w poezji pól i ogrodów Tao Yuanminga

Agnieszka Czyż

Wielogłos, Issue 2 (64) 2025, 2025, pp. 101-115

https://doi.org/10.4467/2084395XWI.25.013.21432

This article analyzes three representative works of Tao Yuanming through the lens of Taoist elements present in his poetry, demonstrating the significant influence of this philosophical and religious tradition on his life. Tao Yuanming remains relatively understudied in Polish literary scholarship; therefore, this article references all previous publications on his work. Additionally, it provides an overview of his biography and historical context, clarifies inconsistencies found in earlier studies, and examines key Taoist principles essential for understanding the role of this philosophy in his life and literary output.

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Here Comes the Bride. A Long Overdue Queer Reading of Re-Animator and Bride of Re-Animator

Agnieszka Urbańczyk

Wielogłos, Issue 2 (64) 2025, 2025, pp. 117-136

https://doi.org/10.4467/2084395XWI.25.014.21433

The paper proposes a queer reading of two movies, Stuart Gordon’s Re-Animator and its sequel Bride of Re-Animator by Brian Yuzna. It examines the relationship between the main characters, Herbert West and Daniel Cain, focusing on the homoerotic subtext and the notion of monstrosity as intertwined with – and representing – queerness. As a reference point, the author highlights the importance of James Whale’s Frankenstein movies and their portrayal of queerness, since both Re-Animator and Bride use them as a touchstone, employing the same tropes and ultimately subverting their narratives.

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Reviews and discussion

Ślepa plamka utowarowienia. O autonomii, rynku i znaczeniu na marginesie książki Dominika Antonika Sława literacka albo nowe reguły sztuki. Studia z socjologii i ekonomii literatury

Łukasz Żurek

Wielogłos, Issue 2 (64) 2025, 2025, pp. 137-160

https://doi.org/10.4467/2084395XWI.25.015.21434

This article offers a critical discussion of Dominik Antonik’s book. The author acknowledges Literary Fame … as an important contribution to sociologically and economically oriented literary studies. However, the article highlights the contradictions present in Antonik’s work and the consequences of his various methodological choices: the blurring of the boundary between literary works and commodities, the rejection of the “grand narrative of commodification,” and the application of a Bourdian understanding of “capital.”

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Nastrajanie wyobraźni. Podziemny Muranów Jacka Leociaka w kontekście badań nad Zagładą

Andrzej Juchniewicz

Wielogłos, Issue 2 (64) 2025, 2025, pp. 161-186

https://doi.org/10.4467/2084395XWI.25.016.21435

This paper discusses Jacek Leociak’s book Podziemny Muranó w (The Underground Muranów) , em hasizing its connection with the author’s previous publications. These earlier works aimed not only to classify borderline experiences but also to challenge the thesis of a paralyzing effect of the Holocaust on the description of extreme experiences. Leociak’s latest book builds upon the findings of his earlier research, but an essential component of this work is its attempt to capture the phenomenon of Muranów as a space rich with traces of the past. A key aspect of this exploration is the focus on the materiality of the remains of the ghetto’s inhabitants. Objects become witnesses to human existence and gain agency – through them, survival is made possible, offering a means to endure another day and stave off hunger. Leociak’s reflections on objects align with the rapidly developing field of thing studies and posthumanities, which emphasize non-human actors and highlight the relational network between humans and non-humans.

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Zroślaki, kultura regionu i festiwale. O książce Wojciecha Browarnego Anatomia nowoczesnego regionu. O związkach środowiska, kultury i pamięci

Jerzy Madejski

Wielogłos, Issue 2 (64) 2025, 2025, pp. 187-198

https://doi.org/10.4467/2084395XWI.25.017.21436

This article discusses Wojciech Browarny’s book Anatomia nowoczesnego regionalizmu. O związkach środowiska, kultury i pamięci (Anatomy of the Modern Regionalism. On the Connections of Environment, Culture, and Memory). The interdisciplinary nature of the volume is emphasized, and the author reconstructs the research perspective from which Browarny presents various detailed issues, particularly within the framework of new literary regionalism. The article highlights the continuity of cultural studies at the University of Wrocław and, above all, underscores the value of Browarny’s detailed studies on Silesian natural monuments, concepts of nature conservation, summer literary festivals, and the presence of the Sudetes in Tadeusz Różewicz’s work. Furthermore, the author emphasizes that Browarny’s analysis extends beyond a single region, discussing the literature and culture of Lower Silesia, Podlasie, Łódź, Pomerania, and Lusatia.

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Files to download

Title and imprint pages PDF Table of Contents PDF About the Authors (pl) PDF

Słowa kluczowe: centre-periphery relations, geography of literary field, local and regional narrations, new regionalism, reportage, Stanisław Przybyszewski, Henryk Siemiradzki, city, modernism, urban studies, travel writing studies, twentieth century, the Polish nation, the peasants, the people’s history of Poland, national territory, Kryjaki, Eliza Orzeszkowa, nationalism, Marian Pilot, body writing, word, soma, memory, space, Tao Yuanming, taoism, fields and gardens poetry, Chinese literature, Re-Animator, Bride of Re-Animator, queer horror, gothic horror, monstrosity, autonomy of literature, commodity form, Dominik Antonik, Nicholas Brown, sociology of literature, agency of objects, posthumanism, non-existent place, memory, Warsaw Ghetto, environmental studies, new literary regionalism, regional literature, ecology, literary tourism, Lower Silesia, Sudetes in literature, Tadeusz Różewicz, “Recovered Territories, ” memory, polonisation

Funding information

The publication of this volume was financed by the Jagiellonian University in Kraków – Faculty of Polish Studies.