Błoński’s Essay Years Later

Michał Głowiński

doi:10.32927/ZZSiM.55

2008

ISSN:

1895-247X

eISSN:

2657-3571

Publication Date:
2008-11-02

Section: Studies

Błoński’s Essay Years Later

Michał Głowiński

redakcja@holocaustresearch.pl Author Biography

Professor of the Institute of Literary Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences, chairman of the Scientific Council of the Institute, real member of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Historian and theoretician of literature, pioneer of studies of the language of propaganda in Poland, author of many books, dissertations and studies on the issues of literary communication, Tuwim’s and Leśmian’s poetics, transformations of novel forms, literary criticism, co-author of the monumental Dictionary of Literary Terms, writer.

Institite of Literary Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences

Zagłada Żydów. Studia i Materiały, 2008, Pages: 23-30

Submission Date: 2020-09-25

Publication Date: 2008-12-01

https://doi.org/10.32927/ZZSiM.55

PDF PDF (Język Polski)

Abstract

The author reflects upon Jan Błoński’s essay “Biedni Polacy patrzą na getto” (Poor Poles look at the ghetto) nearly twenty years of its publication by Tygodnik Powszechny. He points at the innovative character of the depiction of Polish-Jewish issues in the moral context, outside of all the political embroilments. Błoński’s voice is unique, because it acknowledges, in the spirit of the Gospels, that analysis of Polish- -Jewish relations is a fundamental issue for the Polish society, a “homework” that needs to be done. This essay, Głowiński claims, is free from the embroilment in the dualism of the negative and positive myths regarding these relations. The author writes about reactions to this text, the letters to the editor and notes one particular voice, which he reads as an internalised nationalist ideology and the dangerous continuation of the nationalist discourse. Głowiński’s sketch concludes the post scriptum, in which the author refers to another article, published in 2006 by Gazeta Wyborcza, regarding the current historical policy, whose proponents see Błoński’s essay as a negative reference
point. The author notes that this essay constantly evokes strong emotions, and, as an expression of critical patriotism, still has its ardent opponents.