EN
The trend of post"colonial thinking, which has been present in literature studies for some time, turns our attention towards the oppressive as pect of cultural discourses (especially those referring to the borderlands) that are well grounde d in our literature and connected with the history of the multinational Republic of Poland. Th e placing of Paweł Jasienica’s book (pub" lished in 1964, the second edition in 1992) in the context of the post"colonial methodology and awareness proves to be quite justifiable, as th e book turns out to be the manifesto of the post"colonial awareness, which is visible in the ac ts of certain, methodologically specified, reading. “The fourth chronicler” focuses on the lin guistic shape of his predecessors’ utterance and by reconstructing the narrator’s awareness, ide ntifies it with a certain political circle. The political process is interesting for the chronicler merely as a kind of game for power that is played by various political “actants”. Jasienica’s historical works reconstruct the “Slavic ori" gin” from the traces of history that are visible in chronicles and architecture and, against the official political doctrine, they look for such mom ents in the Polish history which could make if possible for the ancestors of the Piasts and the Jagiellons to justify their national pride. That is why, Jasienica’s works are thoroughly present"or iented.