Tomasz Derlatka, Three different approaches of Upper Sorbian authors to Polish issues

The paper describes three different approaches to Polish issues as presented in three novels by Upper Sorbian authors (P. Völkl, J. Brězan, A. Nawka) written in the second half of 1960’. The special position of Polish issue in Völkl’s ...a waše dźěći budu syroty (1966) is highlighted by the colors of book cover - white and red, numerous Polish motives present in the novel, and the place of its action. The picture of Poles presented in Brězan’s Nawrót do Krakowa (1966) is diametrically different from the one that has previously been presented in Upper Sorbian prose. One of the characters – Gonda the outsider, is a personage by whom the author tries to settle matters with Poland and the Poles. Negative presentation of Polish people (in their own opinion) was influenced by Eastern German ideology, unsettled matter of “Slavic reciprocity” and, probably, the author’s dissatisfaction with the development of political and social situation in Poland. On the other hand, Jadwiga (1969) by Nawka is the work filled with the sense of Polishness. The novels by Brězan and Nawka are, among the three that are being described, the most prominent examples of literary pictures of Poland and Poles. Stefan Gonda’s story is Brězan’s reckoning with Polish people, whereas Jadwiga seems to be an answer of one of the greatest Sorbian friends of Poland to Brězan’s, more or less intended, provocation. Völkl’s work, in comparison to the previous ones, should be placed in the middle, with slight indication towards Polishness.