Proza polska wobec zmian ustrojowych: krótki przegląd nowych tendencji po 1989 roku
Polish prose versus political changes: a short review of new trends after 1989

Summary/Abstract: The study examines the most important tendencies of development of Polish fiction after 1989. While it had always been typical that particular periods of literature continuously changed according to current political tendencies, this one after 1989 was a dramatic change in paradigm never experienced before. With the exhaustion of the romantic paradigm, dominating Polish literature since the 19th century, the previous axiological model came to an end. The abolishment of censorship paradoxically led to a temporary “lack of subject matter’. There appeared a transitional period of crisis even in the most significant oeuvres. The confrontation of views has replaced the confrontation of official and non-official political values in literary works. Prior to the changes of 1989, the canon of political resistance had previously aimed at defeating a common enemy. With the realization of democracy, those earlier marching together took separate roads. Literature is trying to find out how Polish people are getting accustomed to the new social and economic conditions. The creation of new literature is associated with contemporary classics (Konwicki, Redlinski), and also with younger Gretkowska, Huelle, Pilch, Stasiuk, Tokarczuk and Tryzna. Among the thematic trends, the dominance of the existentialist line is obvious, especially the renaissance of rustic themes, that is the great number and popularity linked to gender.

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