Aquacritical Vistula: the deep mapping of literary sources within the emerging historiography of flooding (1934)

Abstract

AbstractThis article focuses on an aquacritical reading of literary sources within the emerging historiography of flooding. In 1934 the largest flood in the history of the Second Polish Republic (1918–1939) happened. After summer torrential rains the tributaries of the main river in Poland, the Vistula River, disrupted the functioning of the centrally-managed and newly recovered state. By using a deep mapping tool for river-related discourse analysis and for historical river management approach, the authors discuss different accounts of the 1934-flood: firstly, works from the historical period (J. Kurek, K. I. Gałczyński, relevant newspapers) and secondly, a contemporary reference to 1934 and flood narrative in prose (M. Płaza). All these literary sources contain numerous renamings of the Polish flood management dictionary but have one historical feature in common: they anchor the modern militarization of language in flood narratives (the fight against the river) and the symptomatic discourse of power and control (ruling over the river). Finally, these sources led the authors to the conclusion that both the Polish experience of World War I and later subsequent armed conflicts, as well as the impact of militarized state policy left their stamp on the flood lexicon and deepened the divide between humans and disempowered rivers.