„Tutejsi”. O czym opowiada Andrzej Stasiuk, prezentując okupacyjno-powojenne wizerunki chłopów z nadbużańskich wsi Mazowsza i Podlasia oraz ich potomków
The “Locals.” What Does Andrzej Stasiuk Tell Us About, Presenting the WWII Occupation and Postwar Images of Peasants from the Bug Villages of Mazowsze and Podlasie and Their Descendants?

Summary/Abstract: The article examines the aspects of the WWII experience of the Polish village and the postwar social advancement of peasants – that are rarely considered in witness narratives – on the examples from Andrzej Stasiuk’s generically hybrid prose writing, treated here as an exemplum. It presents the departure and arrival points of that process, determining today’s condition of the social and cultural consciousness of the descendants of those people who either migrated from the countryside to the cities, or remained in their native villages, living in the Polish People’s Republic, and – later on – facing the system transformation after 1989. The discussion concentrates on three essential problems: the WWII clash of the peasantry from Mazowsze and Podlasie with modernity; their postwar attitude to the revolution which made the migration to the city possible, and the interplay between superiority and inferiority (contempt and shame) in identity constructs of the contemporary Poles with peasant roots.

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