Próba epopei. O narracjach założycielskich tzw. Ziem Odzyskanych
In Search of the Epic: Settler Narratives from the So-Called Recovered Territories

Summary/Abstract: Focussing on the literature of the so-called Recovered Territories, i.e. the territories that were incorporated into Poland following the Yalta Conference, this article identifies the traits of settler narratives. Literary works describing settlers in the Western and Northern Territories were perceived as key to legitimizing Poland’s new postwar borders. Gieba discusses the fact that writers who tackled the motif were expected to reflect the cultural and political norms of the People’s Republic of Poland, and even to create a new national epic portraying the incorporated territories’ assimilation with the rest of the country – their heroic ‘re-polonization’. Having outlined how the epic was supposed to function as a founding narrative for the Recovered Territories, Gieba also explores the reasons for the project’s ultimate failure.

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