Fenomen maranizmu: żydowska „tradycja ukryta”, nowoczesność i marani polskiej literatury
Marranism: The “Secret Tradition” in Judaism, Modernity and the Marranos of Polish Literature

Summary/Abstract: The text is an editorial introduction to the group of essays in this issue, which are devoted to the “Marranos of Polish literature.” What we call here a ‘Marrano phenomenon’ is still a relatively unexplored fact of modern Western culture: the presence of the borderline Jewish identity, which avoids clear-cut cultural and religious attribution but nevertheless exerts significant influence on modern humanities. Our aim, however, is not a historical study of the Marranos (or conversos), i.e. mostly Spanish and Portuguese Jews of the 15th and 16th century, who were forced to convert to Christianity, but were suspected of retaining their Judaism ‘undercover’: such approach already exists and develops within the field of historical research. We rather want to apply the ‘Marrano metaphor’ to explore the fruitful area of mixture and cross-over which allowed modern thinkers, writers and artists of the Jewish origin to enter the realm of universal communication – without, at the same time, making them relinquish their Jewishness which they subsequently developed as a ‘hidden tradition.’ The ’Marranos of Polish Literature’ constitutes a vital part of this project, which applies the Marrano methodology to the reading of the Polish-Jewish writers.

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