Contact Zone Identities in the Poetry of Jerzy Harasymowicz: A Postcolonial Analysis

This title is printed to order. This book may have been self-published. If so, we cannot guarantee the quality of the content. In the main most books will have gone through the editing process however some may not. We therefore suggest that you be aware of this before ordering this book. If in doubt check either the author or publisher’s details as we are unable to accept any returns unless they are faulty. Please contact us if you have any questions.

This book analyses articulations of cultural identity in the work of the twentieth-century Polish poet Jerzy Harasymowicz, concentrating on the ways in which his shifting perspectives on the Carpathian Lemko Region are used to address the dilemmas of power, hybridity and interethnic contact. Set against the background of communist Poland, the poems examined here challenge official narratives of identity, while exploring the possibilities and limits of self-creation in poetry. Constituting the first post-1989 reading of Harasymowicz’s verse, free from the constraints imposed by political censorship, this book provides a reinterpretation of the poet’s work and reconsiders his contested legacy. By framing the discussion within the context of postcolonial studies, the author explores the usefulness of this approach in reassessing cultural representations of Polish national identity and raises broader questions about the ability of postcolonial theory to redefine the established notions of national literature and culture.