POLONOCENTRISM IN THE HISTORY OF LITERATURE: THE RATIONALE BEHIND THE PHENOMENON AND ITS LIMITATIONS (AS PART OF A UNIVERSITY LITERARY-HISTORY SYNTHESIS)

This essay analyses certain negative (or, potentially adverse) consequences of two types of polonocentrism in the Polish literary-history vulgate. It also remarks certain specific aspects of the issue, ones that may become a starting point for a deepened and more detailed discussion in a future (i.e. such as attitudes toward ethnic, linguistic, religious, sexual, etc. minorities of any sort). Yet, in the first place, discussed are certain general issues which, in the context of Polish studies under redevelopment, will definitely require being thoroughly re-evaluated. The author's main premise is his conviction that polonocentrism and broader methodological and research prospects, such as 'internal comparative studies' (a concept by W. Panas) and 'external comparative studies', Europeanism, world literature, etc., are not alternative concepts by nature. Instead, they merely constitute certain determined viewpoints that may be merged and/or rendered mutually complementary, if only nationalistic, ethnical, religious, moral, and ideological prejudices, which could have frequently been met in some earlier literary-history studies and analyses, are avoided.