Summary

1The monograph Wojna i okolice [War and Vicinity] includes articles about Polish prose written during times of war and occupation. The majority of works involve an analysis of social views of war and the first post-war years.

2Literatura wojenna – szanse na powstanie syntezy [War Literature – Possibility of a Summary] discusses problems tackled earlier in Kilka aspektów współczesnych badań nad literaturą o II wojnie światowej [A Few Aspects of Contemporary Studies of World War II Literature] (S. Buryła, Rozrachunki z wojną [Coming to Terms with War], Warszawa 2017). The article is about circumstances for creating a future summary of literature on war and occupation. In addition, it emphasises that research needs to take into account the archives of Communist censorship.

3Legenda Westerplatte w tekstach literackich [The Legend of Westerplatte in Literature] focuses on interrelations between literature and myth based on the example of one of the most important events that shaped the collective memory of WWII. The article analyses Polish prose and verse about the heroic defenders of Westerplatte, it discusses the impact of literature on how the memory of war was shaped. The paper also presents a critical overview of two approaches to the idea of continuing the fight with the enemy in pragmatic terms (Maj. Henryk Sucharski) and in romantic terms (Capt. Franciszek Dąbrowski).

4Pamięć powojnia w kryminale retro [The Post-War Period in Retro Crime Stories] depicts a period of 1944–1948 in the works of Polish writers of the young and middle generations, of creators of popular literature. The authors of retro crime stories portray the post-war period as a moment of moral and political turbulence – a time of crime. They also depict the period between 1944 and 1948, but differently than in Polish prose written in the times of the Polish People’s Republic, which portrayed those times primarily as a moment of euphoria following the victory over Nazism.

5Pas ziemi niczyjej. Obraz powojnia w prozie lat 1944–1948 [A Strip of No Man’s Land. The Post-War Period in Prose of 1944–1948] reconstructs the image of the post-war period in stories and novels created hic et nun – in the first few years after the defeat of Nazism. The paper discusses historical and social contexts in detail as well as presents a psychological image of 1944–1948. In the final section, the author answers the question of why the prose of that period could not tell the truth about the times it was written in.

6Temat pogromów w wojennej i powojennej prozie polskiej (1939–2015). Rekonesans [Pogroms in War and Post-War Polish Prose (1939–2015). Reconnaissance] discusses the theme of pogroms in post-war Polish prose (he leaves other kinds of writing – memoirs, diaries, journals – outside the area of academic reflection). The researcher focuses on texts created between 1939 and 2015, synthetically presenting different ways of talking about the anti-Jewish pogroms: from the documentary convention to fiction typical of recent Polish crime novels.

7The article entitled „Prawdziwi” mężczyźni. O prozie socrealizmu i jej kontynuatorach [‘Real’ Men. On Socialist Realist Prose and its Continuators] examines an insufficiently explored category of masculinity in Polish literature on WWII and the patterns of masculinity developed after the war by the Communist leaders of Poland. The author presents several models of positive masculinity promoted by Socialist realism (i.a. an employee of the security services – „Urząd Bezpieczeństwa” in Polish, a Soviet soldier, a soldier in the army of Zygmunt Berling, a highly productive worker), and of negative one (an intellectual, a Home Army soldier).

8The monograph Wojna i okolice ends with the article entitled „Nigdy więcej!” – historia pewnej utopii. [‘Never again!’ – The Story of a Utopia] It discusses the post-war slogan of ‘Never again!’. The paper portrays social, political, and historical contexts in which post-war rhetoric functioned within the propaganda of the Polish People’s Republic. In addition, it also examines the status of the slogan of ‘Never again!’ in contemporary culture.