Item added to basket

No 2 (57) 2019

Charlie Chaplin in the vernacular modernism of the Polish interwar period

Charlie Chaplin in the vernacular modernism of the Polish interwar period

Robert Birkholc
(University of Warsaw)
ORCID: 0000-0002-5192-4997

The full version of this article is available  in Polish  in the printed version of Tekstualia and in the on-line subscription.

The article attempts to characterize „vernacular modernism” in the Polish culture of the interwar period on the example of the fi gure of Charlie Chaplin, which appears very often in Polish literature of that time. The famous comedian was an idol not only for the writers of popular novels, but also for the Skamandrits and futurist poets. In the interwar period low culture and high culture began to intermix. For the Skamandrits, like Julian Tuwim, Chaplin represented a new model of democratic art, in which the artist became a producer of entertainment. The futurist poets, in turn, saw Chaplin as an archetypal trickster, an anarchist who destroyed the social order and created a modern form of art. For writers like Leo Belmont, Charlie the tramp was a „wise fool”, a poor man who is rejected by the modern society. Chaplin was so useful for the Polish writers because he symbolized both bright and dark sides of modernity

The sample of Polish version of this article is available here: https://tekstualia.pl/pl/numery/zapomnianedwudziestolecie

I agree to the processing of data in accordance with the Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, please disable cookies in your browser. More →

Changes to the Privacy Policy


In accordance with the legal requirements imposed by the Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council (EU) 2016/679 of 27 April 2016 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data and repealing of the Directive 95/46/WE, a new Privacy Policy applies on this Website, which contains all information regarding the collection, processing, and protection of personal data of users of this Website.

Furthermore, we remind you that for the correct operation of the website we use information stored in cookie files. You can change the cookies settings in the settings of your browser. If you do not agree to the use of cookies on this Website, please change the settings in your browser or leave the Website.

Privacy Policy