The Image of Rural Women in Selected Prose Works of the Peasant Trend and Memoirs of Peasant Women

Abstract

The phenomenon described by Henryk Bereza as the peasant trend in literature was something unique within Polish literature. Thanks to authorsoriginating from the provinces, such as Julian Kawalec, Tadeusz Nowak, WiesławMyśliwski, Edward Redliński and Marian Pilot, the countryside gained representation in the mainstream culture and literature of 1945–1989. However, among thetexts of the peasant trend, it is also possible to identify themes that did not findrepresentation or found it rarely. Among the works belonging to the peasant trend
it is possible to notice a small representation of women, both among female authorsand women characters equally important to men. Najada (1970), Diabły (1971) and Gorczyca (1981) are rare examples of works focusing on the female perspective of provincial life. The expressive characters of mothers, daughters and wives complement the male perspective, which seems to have dominated the peasant trend.The picture of life portrayed in literature will be contrasted with the accounts ofrural women sent to the competition of the Institute of Rural and Agricultural Development of the Polish Academy of Sciences, published in 1975–1976 in threecollections in the series Wspomnienia kobiet wiejskich: Czyste wody moich uczuć (1975), Rola przeorana, dom piękny (1975) and Być w środku życia (1976).