Portret z czasów młodości – o Wilku Marka Hłaski
A Portrait of Youth – on The Wolf by Marek Hłasko

Author(s): Magdalena Boczkowska
Subject(s): Polish Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego
Keywords: Marek Hłasko; rediscovered manuscript; bildunsgroman; socialist realism; dark literature; The Wolf
Summary/Abstract: The author recounts the story of the rediscovery of the manuscript of Marek Hłasko’s lost novel; The Wolf; which constitutes a prequel of sorts to his 1982 Marymont Sonata. The novel is a bildungsroman; since it describes the early life of Rysiek Lewandowski; the protagonist of The Marymont Sonata. Growing up in Marymont – the poorest neighborhood in Warsaw – during the interwar period; the protagonist grapples with poverty and the cruelty of the local community. Fascinated with communism; Rysiek decides to join the party just to be disappointed when Stalin disbands the Communist Party of Poland. The article concludes with a reflection of the place of Hłasko as a popcultural icon in the contemporary cultural landscape.

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