Trans-Curzonia and border people. Ukrainians deported from Poland in Contemporary Ukrainian and Polish literature

Abstract

This article analyses the image of the contemporary Polish-Ukrainian borderland in Ukrainian literature, and for a comparative context, works by Polish writers are also included. The literary representation of Trans-Curzonia as a special border area, the ethnic borderland where Ukrainians lived before the deportation actions in 1940–1950, is examined. It is argued that the literary topographyof this area is the main focus of Polish authors, especially Andrzej Stasiuk. Above all, it is a space at the intersection of cultures and time, which exists somewhat separately and according to its own specific rules. It was noted that in the prose of the Ukrainian novelist Vasyl Makhno, the main themes are the community of deported Ukrainians and their lost ideal place (home) and nostalgia. In journalism, the main actors have been the communities of Ukrainians who remained in Poland and the witnesses and descendants of those deported in “Operation Vistula”.