Neo-Sarmatian Novel: Axiology, Ideology, Politics

Abstract

The article is an attempt to describe a phenomenon that has not been described so far, the neo-Sarmatian novel, i.e. a longer narrative form, which tells the story of the 17th-century Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. This variety of the novel belonging to pop culture is represented by
the writings of Rafał Dębski, Jacek Komuda, Konrad T. Lewandowski, Maciej Liziniewicz and Jacek Piekary. Not very interesting as literary works, Neo-Sarmatian novels become an interesting phenomenon when treated as a kind of axiological-ideological-political device. Axiological – because they represent a certain system of values; ideological because they implicitly portray the values as natural; political because their basic element is conflict, and because the neo-Sarmatian novel is a fantasy about community life. The exemplification of these three dimensions of the neo-Sarmatian novel is the novel Charakternik by Jacek Piekara chosen as an example because of its representativeness.