From Poland with love: Politics of queerness in the time of neoliberal post-socialism (the case of Michał Witkowski)

The article presents Michał Witkowski’s novel Lubiewo (Lovetown, 2005) as an unconsciously political novel. In order to do so, I take a critical approach to the basic epistemological distinction contained in this novel between gej/ciota (gay/faggot) by analysing subsequent novels that refer to Lovetown, in particular Fyn fund cwancyś (Twentyfive, 2015) and a privately published autofictional novel entitled One Hundred Dogs for Killing a Crab. A Cuban Diary (circa 2018). The article argues that the translation of this distinction (gay/ciota) into the ‘queer versus gay’ opposition, recognisable in theory (especially in the US), leads to misinterpretation and distorts the Eastern European context of economic transformation. Deconstructive analysis shows that the political aspect of Witkowski’s work can be found particularly in his critique of Polish hegemonic masculinity and his critique of the economic dimension of Poland’s neoliberal transformation.