“Us” and “Them”: Participation of the Adventure Stories in the Ideological Upbringing of Youth in Soviet and Polish literature in the 1920s–1930s

Abstract

Dariia Semenova focuses in this article is on the adventure stories in the Ukrainian Soviet children’s literature and in the Polish literature for children from the 1920s-1930s. The construction strategies for the images of the in-group (the inclusive) and the out-group (exclusive, foreign) are discussed. The differences in the prevailing approaches include the creation of an unidentified other that appears in direct contrast to the required cultural identification of the enemy in Polish literature. In Ukrainian literature, meeting the other happens on one’s own land and is driven by defensive and protective functions. In Polish literature, a similar plot twist of meeting the other became an important exotic motif. The commonality of these two different approaches could be found in the employment of the topoi of a border, as a symbolic marker dividing the world order. It also strengthens the motif of rivalry over a civilization’s influence.   Keywords: adventure, Polish literature, Ukrainian Soviet Literature, identity, ideological upbringing