The Sarmatian Review
Justyna Beinek, University of Toronto
This volume of sixteen essays on the discourse of home in postwar Polish culture inaugurates the Ohio University Press Polish and Polish-American Studies series. It is fitting that the first book of the series encompasses multiple aspects of the idea of "home," a foundational notion to cultural studies generally and to Polish studies in particular. Bozena Shallcross has had the brilliant idea of probing a topic that seems almost invisible because of its seminal character: we all have an experience of home and many, if not most, literary works contain some images of home. This volume clearly reveals that the Polish "home" is a polysemic entity whose various meanings are ably explored by the contributors. The Polish home is a "concept of paradox and contradiction," in the words of the series general editor, John J. Bukowczyk, as it is embedded in the historical conception of Poland and Polish identity-building during the times of partitions, wars, political independence, waves of migration, and exile (ix). Thus the volume places as much emphasis on "homelessness" as it does on "home." Likewise it treats the idea of homeland as a version of "home" with no less seriousness than the more immediate association of "house" and "home" with one's living quarters.
Overall, Framing the Polish Home is a volume that opens up a new vista in Polish Literary and cultural critique: home, house, homeland, and homelessness studies. Not only does it discuss specific issues and writers from the Polish context, but it also points toward a significant body of theoretical approaches to home and space issues through the rigorous and creative use of relevant theories on the part of many contributors. As a collective endeavor of Polish and American scholars, the book achieves the goal of bringing together academic work that otherwise might develop—regrettably—in a parallel, wheel-reinventing manner. For all of these reasons, Framing the Polish Home is definitely something to write home about.
Sarmatian Review
Vol. XXIV, No. 3
September 2004
