Dziedzictwo w kulturze. Genologia i genealogia

Abstract

The article examines heritage as a dynamic cultural process rather than a fixed legacy, focusing on contemporary literature as a privileged space for negotiating continuity, rupture, and reinterpretation. It brings together two complementary perspectives: genology (genre studies), understood as the relational and hybrid transformation of literary forms, and genealogy, seen as a narrative practice of memory, identity, and intergenerational transmission. Drawing on theories of anti-essentialism and “family resemblances,” the text shows how genres such as the family saga, reportage, and autobiographical narratives function as sites where inherited forms and experiences are both preserved and critically reworked. Overall, heritage emerges not as a stable tradition, but as a field of ongoing cultural negotiation shaped by displacement, trauma, and hybridization. The article also discusses the special issue of the journal The Problems of Literary Genres, presenting the papers accepted for publication. The discussion paints a picture of a cultural phenomenon that remains vibrant and evolving: the relationship between research into literary genres and genealogy.