Back to Kubisz. On the Phenomenon of Some Memoir

• Authors: Szkaradnik Katarzyna

Title variants

PL

Z powrotem do Kubisza. O fenomenie pewnego pamiętnika

• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

EN

The article focuses on the reception of Memoir of an old teacher by Jan Kubisz (1848-1929), a cult book in Cieszyn Silesia, including remembrances from the period when the national polish movement in that region developed. The authoress considers in what sense Memoir can be treated as a source. It turns out to be not only a historical and ethnographical source, a narrative which contributes to the ideological discourse on the national "rebirth", a source of inspiration for local literature, but mainly a source of identity for the Polish minority, which stayed after 1920 in the piece of Cieszyn Silesia assigned to Czechoslovakia (Zaolzie). Moreover, Kubisz himself returns as a teacher to his sources, that is to the country, in order to share his knowledge with his countrymen. Yet, he also reaches for a source understood as a traditional local community to make it an example of coexistence, as well as for rhetorical biblical patterns which serve his reasoning. At the same time, the sources of Kubisz' thought are very particular, embedded in regional culture and language. Above all else, however, the authoress shows in what meaning Memoir can be an inspiring source now and not only in Zaolzie: the book restores faith in the sense of acting together for the benefit of community, acting which can alter social reality, but also improve ourselves.

Keywords

EN

memory; silesia; local identity

• Publisher: Wydział Filologiczny, Uniwersytet Śląski w Katowicach
• Journal: Anthropos?
• Year: 2017
• Issue: 26 Podróż do źródła
• Pages: 66-81

Contributors

author

Szkaradnik Katarzyna