Why Poland? - London Book Fair

Why Poland?
Some basic info for the English
Publishers
Economy? Values? Quality?
• Economy – politics: in 2015 - 916 000 Poles
lived in GB: add their neighbours, friends, coworkers etc. so you can tripple this number or
duplicate it
Poles are one of the biggest minorities in UK
Moral obligations
• We encounter some acts of violence against
Poles in GB, especially after Brexit
• Situation is difficult but it will exist in time: we
should do something to explain Poles to their
neighbours
• Help them to understand women and men
from Poland
What average English/man/woman
knows about Poland?
• Some of them know Krakow as a never-ending
party town
• Some of them relate Poland with such terms
as Holocaust, WW2 etc.
• Better educated know something about
Solidarnosc, communist era etc
Values from the Past
• Republicanism (civil society)
• Freedom:
• civil rights (since Neminem captivabimus act
1423)
• Freedom of the speech
• Multicultural and multireligious PolishLithuanian-Ukrainian Commonwealth (15-18 th
centuries)
• Tradition of religious tolerance
(The biggest settlement of Jews in Europe)
What English Publisher should know?
• power of culture: in the 19th century
literature and culture played the crucial role in
social and intellectual life: Polish identity was
shaped not by participation in political
process, but by the culture and literature
• Power of literature – for centuries literature
was the real and the only one Ambassador of
Polish state in the Western Europe
Between responsibilities and
expectations
• Author’s Responsibilities for the Polish identity
(participation in the struggle for
independence) – 19th century - till 1989
• Expectations from the audience
• This situation created a special meaning of
Polish literature and was responsible for the
international position of Milosz, Lem, Herbert,
Szymborska etc.
After 1989: new demands
Modernism - postmodernism (Bauman’s liquid
modernity)
Historicism - posthistoricism (Nowak)
Tradition - modernity (Gombrowicz)
Conservatism - progress (Kolakowski)
Religion (catholicism) – secularism (John Paul II)
Conclusion: all the most fundamental discussions of
a modern world you can find in Polish
contemporary literature
Genres
• Essay – (historical) Andrzej Nowak, (philosophical) Dariusz
Karłowicz etc. School of Polish essay: Milosz, Micinski, Kolakowski,
• Poetry – the flagship of Polish literature (Noble Prize Winners:
Milosz, Szymborska)
• Si-fi, fantazy – Stanislaw Lem and his followers (Jacek Dukaj, Ela
Cherezińska, Lukasz Orbitowski etc)
• Novel (Jacek Dehnel, Olga Tokarczuk, T. Czarnyszewicz, W.
Mysliwski)
• Reportage (Kapuscinski and his followers: do we have the school of
Polish reportage? Michał Książek – poetic reportage, Domosławski
– sociological reportage etc.)
• Crime novel (will the Scandinavian narration be dethroned by Polish
storytellers: Krajewski, Miłoszewicz, Bonda,
• Children literature (illustrators, and authors: innovative, modern,
folklore – inspired etc.)
Why translate and publish Polish
literature?
• Because The Polish Book Institute is
supporting your work!
• Because you must better understand your
neighbours
• Because Polish literary discussions throw a
new light on the problems of a modern world
• Because it can be profitable (I believe)