Nomi tra sovversione di genere e forma di resistenza in Lubiewo di Michał Witkowski

The purpose of this paper is to examine the anthroponomic repertoire of the cult novel Lubiewo (2005) by Michał Witkowski. Based on a combination of camp aesthetics, irony and nostalgy for Socialist Poland, the book describes a particular speech community, a pre-emancipatory queer subculture characterized by the use of linguistic feminine markers referring to men, including female pseudonyms and nicknames. An overview of the onomastic material supplied in the novel shows the presence of a rich inventory of collective and individual names, as well as antonomastic and intertextual denominations. On the one hand this renaming practice attempt to subvert the gender binary, on the other it seems to act as a form of resistance both to Communist repressive policy and to identity homologation resulting from the gay liberation movement.