Jews in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

One of the hallmarks of modern diaspora studies is the dichotomy of a “homeland” and “hostland” in relation to a diasporic group. The history of Jews in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth complicates these contemporary categories. The multi-ethnic and multi-cultural Commonwealth was a homeland for Polish Jews. They formed an integral part of its social, cultural, and economic fabric, even as they identified and were identified as Jews. In a pre-modern world, with legal structures grounded in distinct estates, identities were also inscribed in law. Jewish judicial and communal autonomy was a product of the Jews’ legal status. In Poland-Lithuania, Jewish autonomy developed mimicking the governing structures of the Commonwealth itself. Polish Jews were, thus, a part of a larger real and imagined Jewish community whose homeland was Poland.

Fenicjanie a sprawa polska. Problemy reprezentacji w „Faraonie” Bolesława Prusa

[Phoenicians and the Polish Cause. Problems of Representationin Bolesław Prus’s Faraon] This article proposes to reflect on selected paradoxes of representation in Bolesław Prus’s novel Faraon [The Pharaoh]. First of all, the author discusses the validity of the notions of “truth” / “falsehood” in literary studies and proves that there is no reason for applying them to fiction. Then, he focuses on the depiction of the uncanny magician Beroes and his actions, which transgress realistic standards of probability. Finally, the author argues that the analogy between the novel’s fictional Phoenicians and 19th-century Polish Jews drawn by some researchers is unjustified both because of the novel’s narrative mode and the writer’s opinions expressed in his other texts.