Table Of ContentPolish Literature as
World Literature
LITERATURES AS WORLD LITERATURE
Can the literature of a specific country, author, or genre be used to
approach the elusive concept of “world literature”? Literatures as World
Literature takes a novel approach to world literature by analyzing specific
constellations—according to language, nation, form, or theme—of literary
texts and authors in their own world-literary dimensions.
World literature is obviously so vast that any view of it cannot help but
be partial; the question then becomes how to reduce the complex task of
understanding and describing world literature. Most treatments of world
literature so far either have been theoretical and thus abstract, or else have
made broad use of exemplary texts from a variety of languages and epochs.
The majority of critical work, the filling in of what has been traced, lies
ahead of us. Literatures as World Literature fills in the devilish details by
allowing scholars to move outward from their own areas of specialization,
fostering scholarly writing that approaches more closely the polyphonic,
multiperspectival nature of world literature.
Series Editor
Thomas O. Beebee
Editorial Board
Eduardo Coutinho, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Hsinya Huang, National Sun-yat Sen University, Taiwan
Meg Samuelson, University of Adelaide, Australia
Ken Seigneurie, Simon Fraser University, Canada
Galin Tihanov, Queen Mary University of London, UK
Mads Rosendahl Thomsen, Aarhus University, Denmark
Volumes in the Series
German Literature as World Literature, edited by Thomas O. Beebee
Roberto Bolaño as World Literature, edited by Nicholas Birns and
Juan E. De Castro
Crime Fiction as World Literature, edited by David Damrosch,
Theo D’haen, and Louise Nilsson
Danish Literature as World Literature, edited by Dan Ringgaard and
Mads Rosendahl Thomsen
From Paris to Tlön: Surrealism as World Literature, by Delia Ungureanu
American Literature as World Literature, edited by Jeffrey R. Di Leo
Romanian Literature as World Literature, edited by Mircea Martin,
Christian Moraru, and Andrei Terian
Brazilian Literature as World Literature, edited by Eduardo F. Coutinho
Dutch and Flemish Literature as World Literature, edited by Theo D’haen
Afropolitan Literature as World Literature, edited by James Hodapp
Francophone Literature as World Literature, edited by Christian Moraru,
Nicole Simek, and Bertrand Westphal
Bulgarian Literature as World Literature, edited by Mihaela P. Harper and
Dimitar Kambourov
Philosophy as World Literature, edited by Jeffrey R. Di Leo
Turkish Literature as World Literature, edited by Burcu Alkan and
Çimen Günay-Erkol
Elena Ferrante as World Literature, by Stiliana Milkova
Multilingual Literature as World Literature, edited by Jane Hiddleston and
Wen-chin Ouyang
Persian Literature as World Literature, edited by Mostafa Abedinifard,
Omid Azadibougar, and Amirhossein Vafa
Mexican Literature as World Literature, edited by Ignacio
M. Sánchez Prado
Beyond English: World Literature and India, by Bhavya Tiwari
Graphic Novels and Comics as World Literature, edited by James Hodapp
African Literatures as World Literature, edited by Alexander Fyfe and
Madhu Krishnan
Feminism as World Literature, edited by Robin Truth Goodman
Polish Literature as World Literature, edited by Piotr Florczyk and
K. A. Wisniewski
Taiwanese Literature as World Literature, edited by Pei-yin Lin and
Wen-chi Li (forthcoming)
Pacific Literatures as World Literature, edited by Hsinya Huang and
Chia-hua Yvonne Lin (forthcoming)
Central American Literature as World Literature, edited by
Sophie Esch (forthcoming)
Kazuo Ishiguro as World Literature, by Chris Holmes (forthcoming)
Polish Literature as
World Literature
Edited by
Piotr Florczyk and K. A. Wisniewski
BLOOMSBURY ACADEMIC
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First published in the United States of America 2023
Volume Editor’s Part of the Work © Piotr Florczyk and K. A. Wisniewski, 2023
Each chapter © Contributors, 2023
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Florczyk, Piotr, editor. | Wisniewski, K. A., 1981– editor.
Title: Polish literature as world literature / edited by Piotr Florczyk and K.A. Wisniewski.
Description: New York : Bloomsbury Academic, 2023. |
Series: Literatures as world literature | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
Summary: “Provides an overview of Polish authors and works from the 16th century
to today, highlighting their contributions to and interactions with world literature and
cultures”– Provided by publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN 2022025131 (print) | LCCN 2022025132 (ebook) |
ISBN 9781501387104 (hardback) | ISBN 9781501387142 (paperback) |
ISBN 9781501387111 (epub) | ISBN 9781501387128 (pdf) | ISBN 9781501387135
Subjects: LCSH: Polish literature–History and criticism. |
Polish literature–Appreciation. | LCGFT: Literary criticism. | Essays.Classification:
LCC PG7015 .P549 2023 (print) | LCC PG7015 (ebook) | DDC 891.8/509–dc23/eng/20220722
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022025131
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022025132
ISBN: HB: 978-1-5013-8710-4
ePDF: 978-1-5013-8712-8
eBook: 978-1-5013-8711-1
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
Piotr Florczyk and K. A. Wisniewski
1 Polish Neurosis and the World Literature 17
Michał Paweł Markowski
2 Jan Potocki, the Greatest Author of the Polish
Enlightenment as a French Writer 35
Emiliano Ranocchi
3 Adam Mickiewicz: A Very Short Manual for Non-Polish
Users 49
Grzegorz Marzec
4 The Global Rise of the Novel: Poland and World
Literature 61
Katarzyna Bartoszyńska
5 Eliza Orzeszkowa and Edith Wharton, or Worldly
Rhythms of Polish Women’s Writing 71
Lena Magnone
6 Suitors with Their Stomachs Full of Lovers: Cannibalistic
Tropes in the Texts of Polish Futurist 87
Agnieszka Jeżyk
7 Polish Literature and/or World Literature: Bruno Schulz in
English 101
Zofia Ziemann
viii CONTENTS
8 Polishness Revisited: Witold Gombrowicz and the
Question of Identity 115
Jacek Gutorow
9 Beyond Identity: John Ashbery’s and Frank O’Hara’s
Impact on Polish Poetry 129
Kacper Bartczak
10 The Collective Constipation of the Polish/Israeli Subject:
Lipski, Levin, Warlikowski 147
Andrzej Brylak
11 Swimming Queer: Moving with Contemporary Polish
Queer Literatures 161
Ela Przybyło
12 Between the Mythical and the Modern: Polishness in the
Work of Olga Tokarczuk and Dorota Masłowska 177
Marta Koronkiewicz and Paweł Kaczmarski
13 Liberature as World Literature 193
Katarzyna Bazarnik
Bibliography 209
Notes on Contributors 235
Index 241
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The editors would like to thank the University of Washington in Seattle, the
University of Southern California, and the American Antiquarian Society
for their support. In addition, they are deeply grateful to the contributors to
this volume; to the series editor, Thomas Oliver Beebee; and to the readers,
the editors, and the staff at Bloomsbury.
