MEMORIES OF A KASZUBI GOBLIN BY BOLESŁAW JAŻDŻEWSKI – AN EPIC FORM OF MEMORY AND A DOCUMENT OF THE TIMES: Memoirs by B. Jażdżewski on the Map of Kaszubi Literature
The subject of this article are ”Memoirs of a Kashubian Goblin by Bolesław
Jażdżewski as an epic form of memory and a document of the times.” The narrative forms
of memory concern the author’s memoirs, comprising of three parts that go back to different
periods of historical reality. The first part covers the years 1921–1943, the second – the period
from the author’s inclusion in the ranks of the Wehrmacht, while the third – refers to the postwar
reality of Pomerania and Kashubia after the end of World War II and the construction
of a new system in post-war Poland. The presented article is mainly based on the first part
of the Memoirs of a Kashubian Goblin and the narrative strategies introduced in the course
of reporting about the historical, social, cultural or religious events. B. Jażdżewski primarily
relies on the category of memory, thanks to which the told world carries a heavy load of authenticity.
In the first part of my research statement, I situate the autobiographical work of
Jażdżewski on the map of Kashubian literature, with particular reference to such writers as
Aleksander Majkowski, Jan Karnowski or Anna Łajming. In part two, on the other hand, I
focus on the category of memory and related narrative strategies, which mean that this prose
should be read as a document of the times and a record of history. This work is strongly rooted
in the reality of existence in Kashubia and Pomerania in the interwar period and the first
years of German occupation during World War II, as well as the post-war reality.
