Voluntary Social Marginalization as a Surviving Strategy in the Post-Communist Polish Initiation Novels1 Svetlana Vassileva-Karagyozova

It will not come as a surprise to anybody if I claim that one of the most significant consequences of the fall of communism for Polish literary life was the lifting of censorship. Polish writers were released from the mandatory ideological clichés, political engagement, but most importantly from obligatory patriotic duties. The word “patriotism ” has a sacred meaning for the Polish nation as a whole and for its writing community in particular; the latter historically tends to “assume power ” when the state is poorly governed or non-existent. So: did the break-up with communist ideology also mean a break-up with the Romantic tradition? Probably not, because Polish mentalité is infused with romantic patriotism, messianism, and martyrdom. This mindset is reinforced by the school curriculum from generation to generation. More relevant here seems to be the question of whether or not Polish writers have managed to change their focus from traditionally ethnocentric subjects to more universal, anthropocentric matters. And the answer is yes. The emergence of the new, quasi-autobiographical trend in post-1989 Polish literature is convincing evidence that something important has changed. This new trend is represented by a relatively large group of initiation novels,2 such as R. Sadaj’s Telefon do Stalina [Telephone to Stalin] and Ławka pod kasztanem [The bench under the chestnut tree]; A. Stasiuk’s Jak zostałem pisarzem. Próba autobiografii intelektualnej [How I became a writer. An attempt at an intellectual autobiography]; I. Filipiak’