Saga rodzinna w literaturze polskiej XXI wieku. Konwencja czy kontestacja?
The Family Saga in 21st Century Polish Literature. Convention or Contestation

Author(s): Anna Zatora
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Literary Texts, Sociology of Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego
Keywords: family saga; family novel; conventional saga; contestation saga; women’s literature; anti-saga
Summary/Abstract: This publication redefines the family saga genre, confronting recent literary representations with the model of the traditional family novel, and explores the relationship between the evolution of the genre and transformations in the family model. Academic definitions of family saga (family novel) to date are inadequate to describe recent literary material, i.e., family-themed novels written in the early twenty-first century. Selected Polish literary works written between 2005 and 2015 were analyzed: Piaskowa Góra (Joanna Bator), Saturn (Jacek Dehnel), Stulecie Winnych (trilogy; Ałbena Grabowska), Dom na rozlewiskiem (trilogy; Małgorzata Kalicińska), Rodzina O. (Ewa Madeyska), Chochoły (Wit Szostak), Włoskie szpilki and Szum (Magdalena Tulli). This research points to two ways in which the genre has evolved: the first is a continuation of the traditional model of the family saga, and the literary representations belonging to it (conventional sagas) remain faithful to the model of the family developed at the time and reproduce most of the poetic elements; the second way in which the saga has evolved includes works (contestation sagas) that draw on the genological tradition but at the same time critically reinterpret it. In conclusion, it is proposed to introduce for such representations of family sagas the term "anti-saga" hitherto unfunctional in scientific discourse. The analysis of the literary material allows us to demonstrate a significant relationship between the development of cultural research and the evolution of the family model and the genre of the family saga.

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