Tintin au pays de nulle part ? Deux voyageurs belges dans la Pologne communiste

Abstract

Proposing Tintin as an emblem of Belgian travelers who visited a communist country, the paper offers an analysis of the representation of Poland in two travel stories from Frenchspeaking Belgium: Pologne 1948 by Max Deauville and Canzona pour l’Europe by Sophie Deroisin. The article demonstrates how two Belgian writers endeavor to assimilate the described reality, whilst struggling with the language barrier. The paper discusses the fact that although both authors visit Poland under communism, politics takes up little space in their works. Instead, they choose to focus on the country’s past, especially the Second World War, as well as on the Polish landscape.