Presence of documentary forms in Polish literature of the socialist realism period

Abstract

The article is dedicated to ways in which authors of the socialist realism novel used the poetics of the non-fiction literature (mainly reportage). Perceiving a work of art as a cultural fact of political character had serious consequences. The literary creation was to be replaced by a reportage storyline. The outer reality was depicted in accordance with top-down guidelines of propaganda. Two strategies were used: linking poetics of documentary with belles lettres and incorporating elements typical of non-fiction literature to fiction.

At the same time genological “light-heartedness” of authors of socialist realism makes it now difficult to decide about typological affiliation of those works.