Aspects of Tradition, as seen in the Thought and Literary Oeuvre of Karol Wojtyła: A Preliminary Reconnaissance

Zofia ZARĘBIANKA

Katedra Historii Literatury Polskiej XX Wieku, Wydział Polonistyki, Uniwersytet Jagielloński, ul. Gołębia 16-18, 30-007 Kraków, Poland , Poland

Abstract

The article provides a survey of possible references to tradition and examines different ways of understanding tradition in Karol Wojtyła’s literary works and discursive texts. The first part of the paper presents a reflection on how Wojtyła defined tradition in terms of ‘national identity,’ ‘memory,’ ‘culture,’ and ‘nation.’ The second part addresses the issue of the presence of references to tradition in literary works of the author in question. The 20th-century traditions to which Wojtyła alludes and which he invokes in his literary output are given particular attention. This part of the article also discusses the problem of the similarity of artistic and ideological solutions adopted by Wojtyła to tendencies characteristic of the interwar literature (1918–1939). The proposed considerations are based on the assumption that Karol Wojtyła’s oeuvre is inherently connected to the development of Polish literature at the beginning of the 20th century.

Keywords:

Karol Wojtyła, literature, genre conventions, identity, culture, memory