Lviv. Interpreting the City Anew

Katarzyna Kotyńska's book tells the story of how twentieth-century writers from various countries portrayed Lviv.

The author describes the ways of constructing Polish, Ukrainian, Jewish, and Russian narratives about the city, their mutual relations and conflicts. It is only against this backdrop that today's disputes and controversies about Lviv's identity, as well as attempts to present it as a city different from all others, become clear. One of the basic features of "Lviv literature" is the multiculturalism of this city, invariably highlighted by Ukrainians and Poles as the most wonderful of its qualities. Kotyńska not only shows the elements that made up the idyllic visions of Lviv, but also focuses on the reasons why they were created and what was often hidden underneath them.

The fifth volume in the series BIBLIOTEKA EUROPY ŚRODKA (Library of Central Europe), edited by Prof. Jacek Purchla.

A digital version of the book is available at the ICC online bookstore.