Confluences: On the possibility of describing a transcultural history of (micro)literature – the Upper Silesian perspective
Confluences: On the possibility of describing a transcultural history of (micro)literature – the Upper Silesian perspective

Summary/Abstract: Any attempt to fully describe the history of a particular literature is doomed to fail. Such a description requires simplifications and generalizations, and necessitates selection. The same is true for literatures of contact zones, which are transcultural in their nature. The history of such literatures should reflect their character and accommodate their transcultural dimension. By using the example of Upper Silesian microliterature, the author presents the challenges a researcher would be confronted with even while approaching literatures of small range, both geographically and in number of recipients (microliteratures), referring to the theory of polysystems and transcultural studies. She discusses the nodal points of the postulated transcultural history of Upper Silesian microliterature, namely: 1) works in the Silesian language, 2) works in dominant languages, 3) translations, and 4) proposals for its literary canon. Concurrently, she argues that Upper Silesian literature cannot be examined in isolation from its transcultural context, the confluences of German and Slavic cultures, as well as the history of the cultural melting pot in which it was developed and the character of which is still noticeable today.

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