„Babcia Austria”, Polonia rediviva i pułapki losu. Tadeusza Kudlińskiego glosa przewrotna do porozbiorowych dziejów – Saga rodu Grabowskich
“Grandma Austria”, Polonia rediviva and the traps of destiny. Tadeusz Kudliński’s tricky interlinear gloss on post-Partitions history – The Grabowski Saga

Summary/Abstract: The aim of this paper is to reconstruct and interpret the literary vision of Poland’s post-Partitions history as depicted in The Grabowski Saga, a story by Tadeusz Kudliński (1980). Of key importance here is a motif of “Polish fate” presented in the story as a metaphor. Kudliński refers to the well-established paradigm of the traditional Polish approach to the country’s misfortunes, perceiving them perversely as History’s fatalistic trap. The story is a parody of a saga of a landed gentry family from Galicia. The writer presents the family’s history until the communist rule in Poland following WWII, with emphasis placed on the decline of the Austrian-Hungarian monarchy, the Great War and the interwar period in Poland. Another literary testimony to History, the story is the writer’s voice in a discussion on the genealogy of Poland’s 20th-century identity.

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