Emigracja, cyrkularność, utopijny projekt tożsamości: przypadek Heleny Modrzejewskiej
Emigration, Circularity, and the Utopian Project of Identity: Helena Modrzejewska’s Case

Summary/Abstract: The essay takes as its point of departure Helena Modrzejwska’a biography, and more specifically, her decision to leave Poland and settle down in the United States of America. By analysing such issues as fragmentariness of experience, revisions and recreations of artistic identity and the paradox of symbolic death (illustrated by Modrzejewska’s rejection of her last name and assumption of a new one) as a survival strategy, the essay focuses on Modrzejewska’s career with a view to exploring the consequences of her emigration from Poland. At the same time, America becomes a significant destination, laden with cultural and historical connotations. This context is also highlighted by Susan Sontag’s In America, a novel which may be read as illuminating the historical circumstances of Modrzejewska’s stay in the United States. The famous actress’s decision to look for bliss and harmony in California proves to be doomed from the cradle, as it is motivated by a utopian vision of freedom and her own identity.

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