Volhynia in the Palette of Polish Realities and Regionalisms in Gabriela Zapolska’s Novel "Małaszka"

Abstract

This article explores Gabriela Zapolska’s literary representation of Volhynia in her novel Małaszka, with a particular focus on the integration of Polish cultural realities and regionalisms. The study reveals that the cultural image of Volhynia presented in Małaszka is inherently heterogeneous, composed of Polish, Ukrainian, Russian, and French elements. These influences shape not only the speech of the characters but also permeate the narrative structure and linguistic fabric of the entire novel. Volhynia emerges as a multicultural region inhabited by people of diverse ethnic, national, and religious backgrounds. The analysis demonstrates that the novel incorporates folklore and mythical realities which reflect the syncretic beliefs of the local peasantry, where Christian doctrines coexist with remnants of other religious and mythological systems. A considerable number of regionalisms appear throughout the novel, many of which are marked as archaic or bookish in Polish lexicographical sources. Some lexemes–such as dumać, rozhowor, dola, kułak, and chuścina–are of Ukrainian origin and are noted as such. In addition, the novel features a range of poetic expressions of Ukrainian (or Russian) provenance that have entered Polish usage, including krasa, krasny, krasawica, and miesiąc (in the sense of księżyc). The article concludes that the presence of Ukrainian folk songs and vocabulary in Małaszka illustrates the deep interweaving of Polish and Ukrainian cultural practices and ritual forms in the Volhynian context. Moreover, it affirms that the Polish and Ukrainian languages–rooted in a shared Proto-Slavic heritage–exerted a mutual influence on one another within this historically complex borderland region.