Księga miejsc utraconych. O antologii Kraj lat dziecinnych
The Book of Places Lost. On the Anthology Kraj lat dziecinnych

Author(s): Jolanta Pasterska
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Literary Texts, Studies of Literature, Philology, Theory of Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego
Keywords: anthology; Kraj lat dziecinnych; 20th century emigration; “to cheer the hearts”; lost place
Summary/Abstract: The article discusses the anthology Kraj lat dziecinnych. The analysis of the volume has been dedicated to two primary issues that can consequently be divided into two groups: the first references the times the collection was created and its purposes, as their editors’ envisioned it as serving to cheer the hearts of the emigrants returning to the lost land of their childhood only in their memories; the second is an analysis of the anthology as the prototype of the genre dynamically growing after World War 2, both in the country and amongst the emigrants. The anthology included nineteen sketches and essays of varying artistic quality, whose authors were writers, politicians and artists rooted in one tradition and culture, whose lives had them face a radically different emigration reality. The landscapes summoned in their memories speak not only of the loss of a particular place geographically, but also of a part of one’s own identity, hence being a testimony to the terrors of history affecting both the lives of individual people and whole nations. This anthology can thus be somewhat considered a book of places lost, but also a version of the common fate of the Polish people.

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