Służące domowe we współczesnej literaturze popularnonaukowej

Abstract

The article offers a critical reading of two popular science works about domestic servants Służące do wszystkiego [Servants for Everything]by Joanna Kuciel-Frydryszak and Instrukcja nadużycia [Instruction on Abuse] by Alicja Urbanik-Kopeć. According to the author, until recently domestic servants in Poland were exclusively the subject of academic consideration. At present, the subject has been taken up by popular science literature, which offers the reader a portrait of an archetypal female servant – a young (about 20–25 years old) and uneducated single woman, tormented by life and exploited by “masters”. The author of the review ponders the question to what extent such a portrait genuinely reflects historical reality. She believes that the books under discussion deploy certain historical and literary tropes, which are intended to portray the history of servants and employers in a certain way. This raises the question of why exactly this way of narrating the subject has gained an audience, and whether it really fulfills the need to give voice to servants.