Postać narratora w najnowszej polskiej literaturze dziecięcej

Abstract

The article deals with contemporary Polish literature for children from the point of view of the narrative theory that is currently very popular within the humanities, especially in literary studies, and is still neglected (according to M. Nikolajeva) by children’s literature scholars whereas it can be highly relevant not only to the books for the youngest but also to literature in general. The main subject of the article is the role of the narrator in contemporary Polish books for children by: Paweł Beręsewicz, Andrzej Grabowski, Roksana Jędrzejewska-Wróbel, Grzegorz Kasdepke, Barbara Kosmowska, Tomasz Trojanowski, Wojciech Widłak and Rafał Witek. The author takes into consideration literature for the youngest addressees (3–9 years old) because one of the aims of this text is to show the complexity of the narrative of such stories, which are commonly considered to be “simple” both in their form and message. The beginnings and endings of the selected stories (mainly having the first person adult narrator) are analyzed. In the last part of the paper there are some remarks on the position of the narrator in the text, the distance between the narrator and the narrative (and the characters as well). The narrative voice and the point of view in the analyzed texts are discussed shortly. In conclusion, the perspectives of further research are presented.