“A peasant resembles a great poet”. The meaning of the peasant inspired debut of writer, Roman Turek

Abstract

The aim of the article is to describe the circumstances and significance of the book debut of Roman Turek, a writer of peasant origins, whom Wiesław Myśliwski included among his literary predecessors. The autobiographical novel Moja mama, ja i reszta was published in its entirety in 1961 by Ludowa Spółdzielnia Wydawnicza, while fragments had previously been printed in national periodicals devoted to rural themes: "Orki", "Zarzewie" and "Zielony sztandar". Subsequent editions appeared in 1963, 1970, 1973 and 1989. It was the first part of the Galician tetralogy, the subject of which became the complicated fates and everyday life in the imaginary world of the inhabitants of the villages located near Łańcut. It was well received by the critics, some of whom highlighted the novel’s original, and even groundbreaking nature. The success surprised the author himself, a self-taught man born in a poor village near Łańcut, a veteran of World Wars I and II and the war of 1920, and a stoker in the world-famous liqueur factory of Count Potocki in Łańcut. Turek began writing after his retirement and published 9 works in prose – novels and short story collections. He was most popular in the 1960s and 1970s, being one of the most widely read authors of memoir literature in Poland. After his death in 1982, he was almost forgotten. The renaissance of interest in his work is associated with the debate on the issue of the peasant heritage of Poles, observed at the beginning of the second decade of the twenty-first century.