This article analyses two literary texts: Barbara Radziwiłłówna z Jaworzna-Szczakowej by the Polish author Michał Witkowski (2007) and Sakharnyi
Kreml’ by the Russian author Vladimir Sorokin (2008) in the context of postcolonial studies. I treat the terms coined by post-colonial critique, such as orientalism,
orientalization, subversion or mimicry as not only ideological categories, but also
as aesthetic and narrative ones. These tools turn out to be useful in the interpretation of both these texts which, despite the differences between them, may be read
as examples of post-dependence narration, which articulate issues in connection
with identity-related problems of modern Polish and Russian cultures. Both
Witkowski and Sorokin subversively employ auto- and heterostereotypes and
avail themselves of the strategy of self-orientalization, which enables the play on
foreign notions regarding, respectively, Polish and Russian culture and collective
identity. The novel by Michał Witkowski ironically, perversely addresses national
complexes associated with the systemic transformation of 1989 and takes the
floor in the discussion on post-communism. In turn, Sakharnyi Kreml’ by Vladimir
Sorokin is an example of a futuristic dystopia, in which criticism of Putin’s Russia
commingles with reflections on the non-autonomous and non-independent status
of own culture which, in the year 2028, continues to reproduce foreign discourses
and finds it difficult to articulate its own position.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:DRESDEN/oai:qucosa:de:qucosa:83416 |
| Date | 07 February 2023 |
| Creators | Artwińska, Anna |
| Publisher | De Gruyter |
| Source Sets | Hochschulschriftenserver (HSSS) der SLUB Dresden |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion, doc-type:article, info:eu-repo/semantics/article, doc-type:Text |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
| Relation | 0044-3506 |
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