Oświecenie sensacyjne w powojennej literaturze polskiej
Enlightenment and crime fiction in polish post-war literature

Summary/Abstract: The Enlightenment inspired the Polish post-war authors to create thriller fables in differentways: first of all, there were attempts to literary work out authentic histories, then someauthors “revealed” alleged inside stories of real events, finally some stories presentedcompletely fictional episodes set in the realities of Polish, sometimes also European, Ageof Enlightenment. The vision of the epoque, based on historical sources and studies, ismost often rather stereotypical and illustrative in character, but nothing else should beexpected in the popular literature. If there are any attempts to revise the view of that times,they refer only to the traditions of popular literature as well (like in the novel “Choć naspotępiają umysły zacięte...” written by Jerzy Siewierski, which clearly refers polemicallyto Aleksander Dumas’s “Diaries of a Doctor”). Except historical studies, diaries and othersources, also the literature of the Enlightenment is used in different ways. There are quotesor crypto-quotes in the plot, characters often read books that were popular in that times,we can also recognize features of some characters as typical for satire, comedy or novelof the Enlightenment Ages. Sometimes the narrative-fictional patterns of the eighteenthcenturynovel are used as literary allusion. However, the most interesting works are theones in which authors managed not only to compare a sensational, spy or criminal episodeto the realities of the epoque, but also make elements of “the Spirit of the Enlightenment”an integral part of that plot. It is especially visible in the novels of Siewierski’s or Jerzy Piechowski’s.

• Details
• Contents