Inwazja zaświatów w polskiej historical fantasy. Rekonesans
The Invasion of the Underworld in the Polish Historical Fantasy Novel. A Reconnaissance

Author(s): Mirosław Gołuński
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego
Summary/Abstract: The article is an attempt at determining sources and modes of functioning of theeponymous “underworld” in Polish fantasy literature set in the historical realitiesof the Middle Ages. Having indicated Slavic mythology, Christian legends, and theKaballah as source discourses, from which the motif has migrated into contemporaryliterature, the author subsequently emphasizes the more immediate romantic rootsof Polish fantasy literature. On the basis of over a dozen of novels subjected to theanalysis, the author offers a reflection oriented both toward indicating ways in whichthe “underworld” functions (beginning with conventional references to the “GreatBeyond” and finishing with allusions to the actual “underworld,” parallel to the historicalreality), and to the premises underlying the use of the motif. The analysisleads to the conclusion that, in most cases, the sole goal of the historical fantasywriters was to create an exotic mood in novels. The above notwithstanding, in othercases, a deeper awareness of the productivity of the motif of the “underworld” canbe observed: authors such as Jabłoński and Sapkowski tend to use the motif to createideological messages underlying their narratives.

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