Includes bibliographical references (pages 199211) and index.
Contents:
Introduction -- The displaced generation of the children of martial law -- Arrested maturation -- Emasculated men, absent fathers -- Exorcising mother-demons: the myth of the Polish mother revisited -- At the roots of apostasy -- Conclusion: kitschy parents, barbaric children.
Summary:
"How do historical cataclysms affect the social conditioning of young people? How do individuals born in the same period come to form an identifiable "generation"? How do coming-of-age stories create a sense of community and generational identity? Coming of Age under Martial Law: The Initiation Novels of Poland's Last Communist Generation addresses these questions, examining a selection of post-1989 coming-of-age novels authored by the generation of Polish writers whose transition from adolescence to adulthood coincided with Poland's transition from communism to liberal democracy. Svetlana Vassileva-Karagyozova argues that when cataclysms of any nature overlap with the sensitive period of maturation into adulthood, they disrupt the natural rhythm of society's self-renewal. In the case of the Polish '89ers, the generational clash with their predecessors did not produce the anticipated generational change in leadership, but a pathological role reversal: the elders refused to give up their leadership positions, while the young were stifled in their development and occupied marginal social spaces" -- Provided by publisher.
Series:
Rochester studies in East and Central Europe, 1528-4808
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.