Overview

An interdisciplinary and transdiscursive approach to describe Polish masculinities of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. The book thoroughly rethinks the Polish literary studies in the context of various masculinities shaped in Polish culture over the last two centuries. Drawing on theoretical foundations from social sciences, psychoanalysis, and literary theory, Śmieja reveals how the dominant literary fiction of masculinity attempts to justify its claim to hegemony and domination by pointing to historical traumas. ""A compelling interpretive narrative: masculinity in patriarchal societies emerges as a dominant yet deceptive fiction of the male world that ultimately produces historical traumas, eventually fracturing and distorting male identity."" – Prof. Tomasz Tomasik ""Śmieja’s book masterfully dissects masculinity as a fantasy formation, a myth, a fiction rather than a stable, symbolically dominant reality."" – Prof. Inga Iwasiów

Full Product Details

Author:   Wojciech Śmieja
Publisher:   Peter Lang AG
Imprint:   Peter Lang AG
Edition:   New edition
Volume:   3
Weight:   0.596kg
ISBN:  

9783631948767

ISBN 10:   363194876
Pages:   410
Publication Date:   21 April 2026
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
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Table of Contents

Introduction: The Libidinal Politics of Masculinity - Chapter One: Homo Prostheticus, or the Demilitarized Body: On Jan Żyznowski’’s Two-Volume Cycle - Chapter Two: Eugeniusz Małaczewski’s Przekobiecenia: Searching for a New Masculinity - Chapter Three: “That Feeling of Interminable Torment, Damnation Through Ages Uncounted, I Shall Never Forget”: Bruno Schulz and the Dilemmas of Modern Masculinity - Chapter Four: The German Will Liberate Us: The Overslept Revolution of Polish Masculinity - Chapter Five: “Eternal Grunwald,” or Why Polish Men Need Germans - Chapter Six: Maria Kuncewiczowa’s Tristan: Masculinity and Historical Trauma- Chapter Seven: The Polish People’s Republic: Martial Law of the Demilitarization of Masculinity? -Chapter Eight: Tomasz Jastrun and Jacek Podsiadło: Writing Fatherhood - Chapter Nine: The Journal is Dead, Long Live the Journal: Comments on Fatherhood in Mariusz Wilk’s Project - Conclusion: The Beaten Father, or Does a Different Masculinity Exist? - Summary- Bibliography

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Author Information

Wojciech Śmieja is an Associate Professor of Polish Studies at the University of Silesia in Katowice who specializes in gender, queer, and masculinity studies. His four monographs focus on the representation and expression of male homosexuality and masculinity in Polish literature and culture in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

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