Abstract Drawing on the various historical and political uses of language following the partition of a heterogenous Polish state, this article examines Joseph Conrad’s linguistic style as reflecting the diversity, destruction, and survival of culture within early twentieth-century Poland and East-Central Europe. Focusing on Conrad’s range of language practices in his two oft-overlooked stories about the region, “Amy Foster” (1901) and “Prince Roman” (1911), it argues that these works deploy forms of paratext as a means of gesturing toward different identities and cultural practices in East-Central Europe, as well as demonstrating the role of language in the Polish resistance during a time of closed national definitions and imperial repression. Analysis of both formal and thematic references to language in these stories not only reveals Conrad’s deep engagement with his place of origin but also indicates the vital roles and stakes of work in the humanities during political upheaval and transcends stereotypes of a division between the East and West of Europe. This, of course, has particular resonance in the context of ongoing war in East-Central Europe today.
Juliette Bretan (Mon,) studied this question.