Orphaned by Dictators. The Paradoxes of Generational Change in Czech and Polish Literature after 1989

Abstract

This essay is devoted to reflection (on Czech and Polish literary and drama examples) on the moment of transition, when the totalitarian regime gives way to the democratic tendencies.  The expansion of popular literature, many cultural offerings coupled with the development of the Internet (with all the consequences of this mental phenomenon), cause among others, a reduction of the importance of literature and frustration of the creators, who fought the previous regime. Retiring totalitarianism – and its essence is the politicization of all forms of social existence – leaves a kind of ‘void’; this in turn results in paradoxical sense of longing for the past and leads former dissidents to perceive the new reality as hostile. There is a growing sense of a danger (the thesis of „the destruction of intelligence”: M. Kundera, B. Skarga, M. Janion, P. Czapliński), a nostalgic literature appears (A. Stasiuk, I. Dousková, P. Brycz) as well as the new theatre plays, exploiting the sense of disintegration, demonstrating the disappointment of current times (L. Balák, D. Drábek, J. Topol).