The Dubious Privilege of Irony as a Trace of Despair…: Narrative Strategy in Zyta Oryszyn’s Prose Cover Image

Wątpliwy przywilej postawy ironicznej jako śladu rozpaczy… – Strategia narracyjna w prozie Zyty Oryszyn
The Dubious Privilege of Irony as a Trace of Despair…: Narrative Strategy in Zyta Oryszyn’s Prose

Author(s): Adrian Kaleta
Subject(s): Polish Literature, Theory of Literature, Sociology of Literature
Published by: Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu
Keywords: narrative strategy; irony; censorship; Polish People’s Republic (PRL); Zyta Oryszyn; systemic oppression;

Summary/Abstract: This article examines irony as a central narrative strategy in Zyta Oryszyn’s prose. Far from serving merely as an expression of despair, irony functions as a mode of resistance against communist propaganda and censorship. Drawing on the author’s personal experience and oppositional activism, the novels Czarna Iluminacja [Black Illumination], Madam Frankensztajn [Madame Frankenstein], and Ocalenie Atlantydy [Salvation of Atlantis] depict trauma, alienation, and the disintegration of the individual under an oppressive regime. In these works, irony demystifies the language of power, discloses the illusion underlying social conventions, and lays bare the absurdities of everyday life in the Polish People’s Republic.

  • Issue Year: 2025
  • Issue No: 41-42
  • Page Range: 92-101
  • Page Count: 10
  • Language: Polish
Toggle Accessibility Mode