In Search of Lost Countryside. Pastoral Themes in Selected Works by Andrzej Stasiuk
Marcin Całbecki
Wydział Filologiczny, Uniwersytet GdańskiAbstract
The article discusses different approaches towards the theme of pastoral in tree narratives by Andrzej Stasiuk: Opowieściach galicyjskich (translated as Tales of Galicia), Jadąc do Babadag and Nie ma ekspresów przy żółtych drogach. Because the works were published over the period of two decades, one may detect the dynamic changes in how the countryside is portrayed. In the early 1990s Stasiuk incorporates Arcadian myth in his descriptions of provincial life but, at the same time, subverts its potential to bring happiness. The conviction that country life is submitted to nature and as such governed by instincts seems dominant. Stasiuk’s characters in Tales of Galicia follow the paths of Arcadian shepherds. The author pursues this way of reading pastoral in the following years. Furthermore, his interest in Central Europe in the collection Jadąc do Babadag extends his idyllic vision. It reaches beyond post-soviet agricultural farms of Lower Beskids to the territory which stretches from the Baltic to the Adriatic. The entire region in its pastoral realm seems to follow laws of nature. Stasiuk’s recent narratives, however, indicate that this gigantic countryside of Central Europe is gradually shrinking and disappearing. His writings assume the tone of elegy and nostalgia.
Keywords:
Andrzej Stasiuk, Arcadian myth, pastoral theme, nostalgia, elegyWydział Filologiczny, Uniwersytet Gdański
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