Staring vs. the right to speak. On changes in portraying disability in contemporary Polish literature for children Cover Image

Gapienie się a prawo głosu. O przemianach obrazu niepełnosprawności we współczesnej polskiej literaturze dla dzieci
Staring vs. the right to speak. On changes in portraying disability in contemporary Polish literature for children

Author(s): Agnieszka Kwiatkowska
Subject(s): Polish Literature, Theory of Literature
Published by: Uniwersytet Adama Mickiewicza
Keywords: staring; disability; literature for children; narrative prosthesis; body; different;

Summary/Abstract: The article analyses the way in which disability is portrayed in contemporary Polish literature for children, with a particular emphasis on the latest literature. Rosemarie Garland-Thomson’s theory of the baroque stare is applied in the analysis and allows the reconstruction of a network of stares in which the disabled are entangled, and also to reconstruct the place attributed to them in society. In a number of texts, a confrontation with onlookers turns out to be an introduction to a dialogue that gives a disabled person a chance to express their feelings and needs. However, the increasingly common portrayal of disability in the social category does not free literature from stereotypes.

  • Issue Year: 2020
  • Issue No: 34
  • Page Range: 325-344
  • Page Count: 20
  • Language: Polish