Issue Details: First known date: 2021... 2021 ‘Waltzing St. Kilda’ : Writing in Polish in Australia
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'This article is an overview of literature in Polish produced in Australia. As Michael Jacklin has argued (2009), LOTE (Languages Other Than English) writing in Australia ‘has yet to be recognised’. Multilingual writing constitutes a hidden history within Australian literary studies. Polish-language writing is one such hidden history. The two largest waves of emigration from Poland to Australia took place in the decade after the Second World War (ca. 1947-1956), and in the 1980s and 1990s, in the wake of the martial law imposed by General Jaruzelski in 1981 to suppress the opposition movement, Solidarity (Kujawa 142). Our primary focus in this article is the literature in Polish created by authors who came to Australia as part of these two waves. We also discuss the work of Liliana Rydzyńska, who arrived in Australia in 1969, i.e. between the two waves. We then offer a brief survey of more recent Australian writing in Polish, from 2000 till the present. We close with reference to work produced in English by Australian authors of Polish-speaking heritage. Our research on Polish-language writing in Australia traces an evolution from post-WWII writing, on the one hand dominated by traumatic memories of war and experiences of alienation, on the other characterized by exuberant satirical impulses, to post-Solidarity-era writing, largely reflective of a closer engagement with Australian landscapes and culture, and often, a sense of cosmopolitan and transnational identity.' (Publication abstract)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon JASAL vol. 21 no. 1 2021 21700242 2021 periodical issue 'The first issue of JASAL for 2021 forges a number of valuable critical pathways into some of the under-researched spaces of the broad field of Australian literary studies. This issue also offers a strong collection of reviews of recently published essay collections, critical studies and poetry.' (Ellen Smith, Joesph Cummins, Introduction) 2021
Last amended 4 May 2021 12:10:35
https://openjournals.library.sydney.edu.au/index.php/JASAL/article/view/14667 ‘Waltzing St. Kilda’ : Writing in Polish in Australiasmall AustLit logo JASAL
Subjects:
  • St Kilda, Caulfield - St Kilda area, Melbourne - Inner South, Melbourne, Victoria,
  • Polish language
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