Journal article

Publication year: 2020

Pages: 188-204

Journal: Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie

Volume number: 165

Issue number: 6

ISSN: 0869-6365

URL: https://on-demand.eastview.com/browse/doc/64308576

Publisher: Novoe Literaturnoe Obozrenie, Moskva

Abstract: 
This article is an attempt to analyze the socialist-era poetry of Zbigniew Herbert from a postcolonial perspective. References to ancient history, mythology, and biblical allusions are interpreted as allegories of the political culture in the Polish People's Republic. In his poems written between 1956 and 1990, Herbert depicts communism as a Russian attempt to colonize Poland; moreover, in key texts of this period, he talks mainly about how this colonization affected the consciousness of Poles themselves. Drawing a parallel between communist Moscow and Ancient Rome, Herbert paints the picture of a translatio imperil from an anti-imperial position. In conclusion, it is this trans-historical perspective of Herbert's poetry that allows for the connection of Herbert's anti-imperialist mindset with defensive nationalism, and it is proposed that postcolonial interpretations of Polish history formulated by right-wing scholars (Ewa Thompson et al.) may serve as a key to understanding Herbert's civil position during communism.

Harvard Citation style: Uffelmann, D. (2020) Zbignev Kherbert: postkolonial’naia antichnost’ i oboronitel’nyi natsionalizm (Збигнев Херберт: ПОСТКОЛОНИАЛЬНАЯ АНТИЧНОСТЬ И ОБОРОНИТЕЛЬНЫЙ НАЦИОНАЛИЗМ), Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie, 165(6), pp. 188-204. https://on-demand.eastview.com/browse/doc/64308576

APA Citation style: Uffelmann, D. (2020). Zbignev Kherbert: postkolonial’naia antichnost’ i oboronitel’nyi natsionalizm (Збигнев Херберт: ПОСТКОЛОНИАЛЬНАЯ АНТИЧНОСТЬ И ОБОРОНИТЕЛЬНЫЙ НАЦИОНАЛИЗМ). Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie. 165(6), 188-204. https://on-demand.eastview.com/browse/doc/64308576