(Nie)zwykły romans kryminalny? O pierwszych polskich powieściach kryminalnych
The (Un)usual Crime Romance? On the First Polish Crime Novels

Author(s): Izabela Poniatowska
Subject(s): Cultural history, Studies of Literature, Polish Literature, Philology
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: crime fiction; Central Europe; criminal; modernism; popular literature
Summary/Abstract: Crime fiction flourishes in the second half of the 19th century. The article focuses on the specific nature of Central European narratives on crimes, which were created in certain socio-political realities. The author, convinced that Central Europe developed a different model of crime fiction than Western Europe or America, attempts to prove it in the text. The differences arose from a distinct way of perceiving the authorities in this part of the continent and also from the fact that a criminal was often seen by the society as a romantic fighter for freedom and a rebel against the repressive system. It is worth mentioning that crime fiction is deeply rooted in the present. What also constitutes the specificity of Central European crime fiction is the attribution of roles, often contrary to the genre: a detective is not always a positive or the most intelligent character, a criminal happens to be more than a black character.

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