Tropiąc kontrowersje O XXI-wiecznych powrotach do historii
On the Hunt for Controversy On 21st-Century Returns to History

Author(s): Agnieszka Nęcka
Subject(s): Polish Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego
Keywords: historical novel; Olga Tokarczuk; Maciej Hen; Jacek Dehnel;controversies;
Summary/Abstract: In the article, the author – on the basis of three novels: Olga Tokarczuk’s The Books of Jacob, Jacek Dehnel’s Mother Makryna and Maciej Hen’s Solfatara – attempts to showcase the character of contemporary historical novel. Those three briefly discussed novels make it evident that 21st-century writers are eager to revisit the past and wearing historical masks. The emphasis on acts of tracing and retracing the character and mentality of the people living in previous centuries seems to be less prominent, while the issues of identity and subjectivity come to the fore, allowing the authors to formulate a trivial, perhaps, conclusion: that the human nature, despite the historical and geographical changes, remains unchanged. However, such narratives more and more consistently give voice back to those who had been hitherto excluded from and ignored by the historical account, while the protagonists are usually controversial to some degree.

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