Gente Ruthenus, Natione Polonus. La poesia di confine di Eugeniusz Tkaczyszyn-Dycki

Gente Ruthenus, natione Polonus. Eugeniusz Tkaczyszyn-Dycki’s borderlands poetry. The paper analyzes the identity issues in the works of one of the most prominent figures of post-1989 Polish literature. Torn between Ukrainian family roots and forced integration into Polish culture, the poet Eugeniusz Tkaczyszyn-Dycki writes about the complex problem of ethnic, national, religious, and linguistic belonging. A key role is played by the character of the poet’s mother, whose schizophrenia symbolizes the failure to reach a compromise between different identities. In his poems, Tkaczyszyn-Dycki turns to memory as a form of resistance to cultural assimilation, uses Polish language for the purpose of personal redemption and, ultimately, finds his only homeland in poetry.