Abstract
The article deals with the lives of postwar Polish emigration as portrayed in literary works by Polish émigré women writers. It begins with the “domestic” theme whose prominence in the works in question can be at least partly explained by the fact that in Poland, for historical and political reasons, the public and private spheres had acquired a different character than in the West. The blurring of the line separating the two spaces and the image of Matka Polka (a patriotic mother) are then used as points of departure for the description and analysis of the role of women of the first generation of postwar émigrés as wives and mothers. This is followed by a discussion of women authors as observers of their new countries (Great Britain, France, Argentina, and the United States) and their inhabitants (including other émigré diasporas and visible minorities). Their view of social change and the beginnings of the feminist movement is largely shaped by the “domestic” patriotic perspective typical of Polish women of their generation. Finally, the article discusses the problems that the mothers encounter in raising the next generation (and generation one-and-a-half) in the context of the cultures and mores of their new countries.
