Gliwice i genius loci – fenomen miasta w literaturze
Gliwice and genius loci – the phenomenon of the city in literature

Summary/Abstract: The topic of this study is an attempt of generalisation concerning contemplations about urban space of Gleiwitz/Gliwice that were literary created by Polish and German speaking writers, such as, Horst Bienek, Wolfgang Bittner, Julian Kornhauser, Henryk Waniek, Adam Zagajewski, Piotr Lachmann, during the last thirty years. In its literary image, Gliwice seems to be a place that is lost, abandoned, changed, recovered. Thereby, the city is presented from different points of view, i.e. nostalgic passing away, alienation, negotiate configurations, and new senses. Those different writing strategies create totally various images of Gliwice and prove that there are many versions of this city. The author tries to answer some questions, i.e. Is there any common surface of literary cities and is it possible to discuss Gliwice in the context of genius loci? To what extent the city builds the identity of authors, and can be the referring point of the reader’s identity? What is the extend of basing one’s identity on local properties of Gliwice, or of basing it on regional and Silesian values?

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