Warriors of Our Imagination: Native Americans in 20th-Century Polish Literature

Authors

  • Weronika Łaszkiewicz University of Białystok, Poland

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.12797/AdAmericam.17.2016.17.13

Keywords:

Polish Indian novels, Native Americans, fantasy fiction

Abstract

The following article explores the similarities between Polish Indian novels (written mostly in the second half of the 20th century) and modern fantasy fiction in an effort to argue that the former should not be examined–and then criticized–only in terms of their idealized representations of Native American tribes and life in the wilderness. To demonstrate the parallel between these Indian novels and fantasy fiction, this article will first analyze how the works of Polish writers and fantasy narratives are motivated by similar desires. It will then examine the Indian novels in the context of John H. Timmerman’s study on the six generic traits of fantasy. This perspective will allow us to circumvent the question of authenticity in representation, and instead acknowledge the significance of the Indian novels for the readers and writers of the People’s Republic of Poland.

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Author Biography

  • Weronika Łaszkiewicz, University of Białystok, Poland

    Ph.D. is a lecturer at the Institute of Modern Languages at the University of Białystok. Her research interests focus on British and American popular literature, particularly on the various aspects of fantasy fiction. She has coedited Visuality and Vision in American Literature (2014) and Dwelling in Days Foregone: Nostalgia in American Literature and Culture (2016).

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Published

30-12-2016

Issue

Vol. 17 (2016)

Section

North American Studies

License

Copyright (c) 2016 Weronika Łaszkiewicz

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

Łaszkiewicz, Weronika. “Warriors of Our Imagination: Native Americans in 20th-Century Polish Literature”. Ad Americam, vol. 17, Dec. 2016, pp. 173-87, https://doi.org/10.12797/AdAmericam.17.2016.17.13.