‘The last one will turn off the light’. Polish prose written after 2000 with regard to the problem of EU migration

Abstract

The sketch is an attempt to focus on the emigration/migration issue in Polish prose written after 2000 and to answer the question of whether we are only dealing with reports written by blue-collar workers as well as descriptions of the day-to-day struggle with reality, or whether we are dealing with more or less sharp playing with emigration patterns. The quoted examples prove that we are dealing with two variants concerning description of experiences during ‘EU migration’. On the one hand, we may speak about a positive pattern where emigration is treated as an adventure which is perceived as breaking free from existing obligations and imposed rigors. On the other hand, one may find a number of negative patterns, according to which emigration is a necessary evil. Thus, the writers reflect on the dramatic everyday life of an emigrant, eclipsing broadly defined problems with identity. They present complexes which make Poles living abroad give in to fate; they base the image of EU (e)migration on clichés and stereotypes. Additionally, one can observe a ‘gender’ division.