Miasta się przemieszały - synkretyczność kultur a poczucie wyobcowania bohaterów powieści Stefana Chwina

Abstract

The novels by Stefan Chwin are set in the reality of Gdańsk; additionally, the first two signed with his own name are usually treated as nearly-autobiographic works, as the dates of the events in the novels and the author’s life events coincide. Thus the reader watches the changes affecting Gdańsk through the eyes of the narrator - Piotr, realizing that these are - indirectly - the eyes of the future writer, growing up in the frontier city. For Chwin shows the very moments of growing into the city by the older characters of the novels, who filter all experience through their Vilnius and Warsaw, and the genuine fascination with the patchwork of Gdańsk by the young characters - alter ego of little Stefan Chwin. Chwin’s works make us notice the analogy between the life of German burghers and the existence of the Polish eastern frontier noblemen: the love for impressive, carefully formed objects, collecting bibelots, the tendency to praise the well-executed details, admiration of nature. At the same time, it is easily noticeable that one of the main features of the cultural element is the dynamics, characterized by anthropological diversity: switching from Germanness to Polish-ness and other transformations, uniting, creating a new value. Chwin’s novels do not show fossilized forms, but a genuine world in constant move.