ŻYCIE WYBRANE. Recenzja książki Pawła Stefanowskiego "Wiersze wybrane" (Siedlce-Warszawa 2022)

Abstrakt

The text is a review of Paweł Stefanowski’s book "Wiersze wybrane", published thanks to the efforts of the writer’s children in the year that would have been the 90th anniversary of his birth. Stefanowski was one of the most important writers/activists of the Lemko revival after the akcja „Wisła”. Since this is a Polish-language edition, directed also to a non-Lemko reader, in the review I focus on how important the radical choices and steadfastness of the activists were and are for the maintenance of Lemko identity. I locate the reviewed book as a signpost, a map from which Lemkos can retrace the path to their identity, and readers outside the Lemko community can understand what the uniqueness of people like Stefanowski is to a community that does not have its own state and institutions protecting its cultural heritage.