Głos i oko. Reżimy wizualne polskich pamiętników konkursowych (1930-1984)

The narratives produced in the framework of Polish memoir writing competitions beforeand after World War II offer a point of entry for studying what Martin Jay has termedthe “tacit cultural rules of different scopic regimes.” In both periods, memoirs werepart of more extensive political projects that validated new ways of “seeing.” Interwarpeasant and worker movements, contesting cultural assumptions about the “ignorant”or “benighted” lower classes, claimed that the worldview of their representatives was asimportant as that of the ruling classes. Postwar communism emphasized the visionaryability of politically conscious individuals to look beyond present realities and see futurerevolutionary possibilities. In practice, memoirs both draw and deviate from these scripts,demonstrating limits of the two visionary projects.