Lo spazio mitico come fondamento dell’identità nazionale. I Kresy nella letteratura polacca

The paper provides an analysis of some aspects of the literary myth of Kresyin the Polish prose since the end of World War Two. The former eastern territories of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, a part of Polish national mythology since Romanticism, have attracted the interest of contemporary writers for complex identity issues that they address. By putting territories and ‘borderlands’ at the center of their narratives and the Polish mythical space, these authors have redefined the paradigms of Polishness referring back to the ideal of a multiethnic and multicultural Poland of the past, an attractive alternative to the present-day nationalistic monologue. Through the analysis of the mythic space of Kresy, the importance of literary text is shown as a fundamental factor for the definition and comprehension of national identity, as well as for the implementation of intercultural dialogue, more necessary today than ever.