Polish Literature as World Literature features articles by thirteen leading scholars of Polish and world literatures. Co-edited and introduced with Kevin A. Wisniewski, it is part of “Literatures as World Literature” series edited by Thomas O. Beebee (Bloomsbury Academic, 2023).
“The book is full of new insights into the major authors and phenomena of modern and contemporary Polish literature and is a valuable source of inspiration for scholars of world literature and for scholars of Polish literature: for the former it provides synecdochs, for the latter metonyms; for the former a quantitative contribution, shedding light on a part of the world literature scene left so far in penumbra; for the latter qualitative insights, thinning out the national literature scene or reinterpreting authors and phenomena in a new key. The question for the former is: can a literature with five Nobel Prizes be considered ‘minor’? The question for the latter: how can the neurotic relationship between national and universal be overcome? This volume relates the Polish literary microcosm and the world literary macrocosm, suggesting that ‘the world’ is after all a naive word, to paraphrase the title of a poem by Nobel laureate Czeslaw Milosz, one of the most global of Polish writers.”
—Andrea Ceccherelli, Professor of Polish Language and Literature, University of Bologna, Italy
“In this very competently edited and thoroughly researched volume, Florczyk and Wisniewski have managed to pull together an impressive range of high-quality essays that explore the connection (and the tension) between the global and the local in Polish literary production and criticism. Admirably, the book’s primary aim is not so much to firmly establish the position of Polish literature in the global public consciousness – as part and parcel of world literature – but rather to show how the seemingly unresolvable conflict between particularity and universality (or parochialism and cosmopolitanism) has been at the heart of Polish literary and intellectual debates of the past few centuries. While some authors investigate previously overlooked transnational perspectives (with a particular focus on the circulation, translation, reception and branding of Polish literature beyond Polish borders), other contributors introduce refreshingly new and challenging comparative constellations. A highly welcome and timely addition to the growing body of English-language books on Polish literature and culture, this collection will serve as an invaluable guide for any scholar and student interested in the transnational and global dynamics of Polish literature, from the early modern age up to the present moment, at the intersection of textual, contextual and comparative approaches.”
—Kris Van Heuckelom, Professor of Polish Studies and Cultural Studies, KU Leuven, Belgium
“One reason to study world literature is to escape the limitations of one’s national literature, the more so if it is eternally preoccupied with its own role and character. Polish Literature as World Literature discloses the potential of Polish writing for the international reader and sheds light on the complex processes and phenomena responsible for the ‘worlding’ or ‘nationalizing’ of the Polish literary field.”
—Magdalena Heydel, Professor, Jagiellonian University, Poland