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The article focuses on the self-creation dimension of the autobiographic narrative by Jan Tomasz Gross contained in his book …Long, Long Time Ago, More or Less Last Friday… (an example of talk literature). In his analysis, Kopczyk brings out the biographic models into which the authorprotagonist inscribes his life, paying attention to their relation with the Polish patriotic tradition, and romantic tradition in particular. In the fate of the protagonist, he perceives elements of “a typical romantic biography,” including the motif of mission and pilgrimage (for one’s homeland). The conclusion of the article suggests a relationship between Gross’s self-creation project and his work as a historian revealing the truth about the fates of Polish Jews during World War 2 and afterwards. Inscribing his own biography into “good models” alleviates what Gross perceives as personal consequences of disturbing the social taboo related to Polish people’s participation in the extermination of the Jewish minority.

Copyright of Autobiografia is the property of Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Szczecinskiego / University of Szczecin Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This text analyses the self-creation strategy of Jerzy Ficowski, a Polish Romologist, who studied the Roma community in Poland from the end of World War II, publishing his findings in two texts Cyganie polscy (Polish Gypsies; published in 1953 and reprinted, in changed forms and under different titles in 1965, 1985 and 1989) and in a memoir titled Demony cudzego strachu (Demons of others’ fears; published in 1986). This strategy stretches between the poles of the extreme reduction of the speaker’s “I”, limiting itself to the coverage of sources, and the autobiographical narrative which maintains an intimate tone. The subject that emerges is a modernist ethnographer who uses the language of discursive domination and orientalising clichés. This is particularly evident in the passages devoted to the poetic genius of Bronisława Wajs-Papusza, which reproduces the classical concepts of tragedy and the sublime.

Copyright of Autobiografia is the property of Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Szczecinskiego / University of Szczecin Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)