O LITERATURZE MAŁEGO NARODU, CZYLI POLSKIE SPOTKANIA Z LITERATURĄ MACEDOŃSKĄ
THE LITERATURE OF A SMALL NATION – POLISH DEALING WITH MACEDONIAN LITERATURE

Summary/Abstract: This article refers to the existence in Poland of the relatively young Macedonian literature, which originated in a language codified only in 1945. This retrospection endeavours to find answers to the following questions: when were translations made? And also, what was translated? The article supplies documentary evidence that all of the Macedonian texts published in Poland, both poetic and prose, were first included in collected volumes presenting Macedonian achievements in the context of the literature of the Yugoslav nations. It was concluded that later independent editions of Macedonian works usually required some explanations for Polish readers. In those introductions, it was indicated that the literature belonged to the Slavic ethnos. Moreover, it was believed that the writers made constant efforts to come to the standard level of world literature. Those explanatory efforts could have created false impressions that the Macedonian literary corpus only refers to local tradition and beliefs. After the collapse of Yugoslavia, the literature of Macedonia was not forgotten. What is more, it became apparent that it was created not only by Slavic nations but also by the Turks and Albanians residing in Macedonia. Although Blazhe Koneski, the great Macedonian writer, who was a poet and a codifier of contemporary Macedonian language, highlighted that the literature of his homeland belongs to a small nation, it is believed to be strongly rooted in the wider European cultural heritage.

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