1733-5760 Of Love and War: Poles and Jews in Rutu Modan’s The Property Gasztold Brygida author Koszalin University of Technology Correspondence to: Brygida Gasztold 15 03 2018 Volume 15 2017 141 152 Copyright © 2018 2018 <div id="cke_pastebin" style="text-align: left;">Stereotypes may be reductive and emotionally charged but, as shared inter-group perceptions, they are an integral part of any social interaction, especially in the history of neighboring groups such as Jews and Poles. Rutu Modan’s graphic novel The Property (2013) offers a broad range of stereotypical behaviors, characterizations, and attitudes which have informed the relationship between the two groups. The aim of this paper is to explore the nature of Polish-Jewish relations through the trope of the stereotype, revealing its persistence and ubiquity in both nations’ cultural milieus. The focus of the discussion will be on humor and irony as key discursive tools which, it will be argued, challenge the validity of stereotypes by breaking their polarity and opening up new avenues of communication. A stereotype-driven narrative, which challenges the past and invites re-readings of Holocaust discourse, facilitates cross-cultural awareness since stereotypes work both ways, revealing not only one’s prejudiced perspective of other groups, but also the perceiver’s character.</div> 1 Bartmiński, J. (2009), Stereotypy mieszkają w języku, Lublin. 2 Connors, S.P. (2012), Altering Perspectives: How the Implied Reader Invites Us to Rethink the Difficulty of Graphic Novels, The Clearing House 85(1): 33-37. 3 Cromer, M. (2007), Getting Graphic with the Past: Graphic Novels and the Teaching of History, Theory and Research in Social Education 35(4): 574-591. 4 Doherty, T. (1996), Art Spiegelman’s Maus: Graphic Art and the Holocaust, American Literature 68(1): 69-84. 5 Dueben, A. (2013), Rutu Modan Explores Post-WWII Poland in The Property, https://www.cbr.com/rutu-modan-explores-post-wwii-poland-in-the-property/ [accessed 1 October 2017]. 6 Elmwood, V.A. (2004), Happy, Happy, Ever After: The Transformation of Trauma Between the Generations in Maus: A Survivor’s Tale, Biography 27(4): 691-720. 7 Frey, H., Noys, B. (2002), Editorial: History in the graphic novel, Rethinking History 6(3): 255-260. 8 Gasztold, B. (2015), Stereotyped, Spirited, and Embodied: Representations of Women in American Jewish Fiction, Koszalin. 9 Iser, W. (1978), The Act of Reading: A Theory of Aesthetic Response, Baltimore. 10 Langer, L. (1995), Admitting the Holocaust, New York-Oxford. 11 LaCapra, D. (1996), History and Memory after Auschwitz, Ithaca. 12 Lippmann, W. (1922), Public Opinion, New York. 13 Modan, R. (2013), The Property, trans. J. Cohen, New York. 14 McGarty, C., Yzerbyt, V., Spears, R. (2002), Stereotypes as Explanations: The Formation of Meaningful Beliefs about Social Groups, Cambridge. 15 McGlothlin, E. (2003), No Time Like the Present: Narrative and Time in Art Spiegelman’s Maus, Narrative 11(2): 177-198. 16 Petersen, R.S. (2011), Comics and Manga, Graphic Novels: A History of Graphic Narratives, Santa Barbara, CA. 17 Rapaport, L. (2005), Laughter and Heartache: The Functions of Humor in Holocaust Tragedy, in: J. Petropoulos, J.K. Ross (eds.), Gray Zones: Ambiguity and Compromise in the Holocaust and Its Aftermath, New York: 252-269. 18 Rippl, G., Etter, L. (2013), Intermediality, Transmediality, and Graphic Narrative, in: D. Stein, J.-N. Thon (eds.), From Comic Strips to Graphic Novels. Contribution to the Theory and History of Graphic Narrative, Berlin-Boston: 191-217. 19 Sobel, M. (2013), The Rutu Modan Interview, The Comic Journal, 29 May 2013, http://www.tcj.com/rutu-modan/ [accessed 25 January, 2017]. 20 Soen, D., Davidovitch, N. (2011), Israeli Youth Pilgrimages to Poland: Rationale and Polemics, Images. A Journal of Jewish Art and Visual Culture 9(17-18): 5-27.