How to describe an experience that lacks language ? The discursivisation of class ad vancement in the polish public debate

Abstract

This article analyses the phenomenon of the discursivisation of class advancement in Polish public debate, drawing on literary examples from both French and Polish cultural contexts. It takes as its starting point works by authors such as Didier Eribon, Annie Ernaux, and Édouard Louis – whose books have gained popularity in Poland – as well as local narratives and cultural works addressing social advancement and its consequences. The author explores how Western narratives of “class deserters” have shaped Polish reflections on the social transformations associated with advancement, particularly in terms of shame, alienation, and identity conflicts tied to leaving the working class. The text underscores the ambivalence of this process and the challenges in evaluating literary auto-sociobiographies, in which authors reflect on their own experiences of breaking away from the working class and attaining a new social position. The article highlights the growing academic and intellectual interest in class advancement in Poland while drawing attention to the differing specificities of Polish and French discourses on social mobility