Oświecenie sensacyjne w powojennej literaturze polskiej

The Enlightenment inspired the Polish post-war authors to create thriller fables in different ways: first of all, there were attempts to literary work out authentic histories, then some authors “revealed” alleged inside stories of real events, finally some stories presented completely fictional episodes set in the realities of Polish, sometimes also European, Age of Enlightenment. The vision of the epoque, based on historical sources and studies, is most often rather stereotypical and illustrative in character, but nothing else should be expected in the popular literature. If there are any attempts to revise the view of that times, they refer only to the traditions of popular literature as well (like in the novel “Choć nas potępiają umysły zacięte...” written by Jerzy Siewierski, which clearly refers polemically to Aleksander Dumas’s “Diaries of a Doctor”). Except historical studies, diaries and other sources, also the literature of the Enlightenment is used in different ways. There are quotes or crypto-quotes in the plot, characters often read books that were popular in that times, we can also recognize features of some characters as typical for satire, comedy or novel of the Enlightenment Ages. Sometimes the narrative-fictional patterns of the eighteenthcentury novel are used as literary allusion. However, the most interesting works are the ones in which authors managed not only to compare a sensational, spy or criminal episode to the realities of the epoque, but also make elements of “the Spirit of the Enlightenment” an integral part of that plot. It is especially visible in the novels of Siewierski’s or Jerzy Piechowski’s.