Women on the Verge of a Conservative Revolution: Female Right-Wing Fiction from 2010s’ Poland

This article examines female-authored fiction as an underexplored component of the intellectual infrastructure underpinning the rise of illiberal conservatism in Poland. It focuses on three novels – Maryna Miklaszewska’s Hipster (2012/2016), Martyna Ochnik’s Oszołomy (2012), and Agnieszka Urbanowska’s Paląc trawę na rykowisku (2014) – to consider how they articulate calls for radical societal change and mobilize gender. The novels critique postcommunist democracy, secularization, and neoliberal modernization while presenting conservative women as active agents of renewal. The analysis highlights the role of cultural production in mainstreaming rightwing ideas and positioning women as the “respectable” face of national conservatism.