Between Exceptionality and Typicality. On the Political Biography of Mieczysław F. Rakowski

Abstract

As historiography tends to claim, Mieczysław F. Rakowski was a “distinct figure” in the People’s Republic of Poland. The discourse concerning his political role was mainly shaped by his Dzienniki polityczne [Political Diaries], an extensive, complex text combining elements of a diaristic source and memoirs written after many years, quite often close to pamphlets. The deconstruction of message created by Rakowski turns out to be an indispensable introduction to building a biographical narration that can be woven around the categories of exceptionality and typicality. Thereby, Rakowski’s exceptionality finds its confirmation, but at the same time it gains a meaning different from the one the hero himself would prefer. What is more, the deconstruction of Rakowski’s retrospective self-creation makes it possible to universalize his experience and to treat it like a point of departure into the history of the People’s Republic of Poland.