A mirror for women. On the work of Grażyna Plebanek
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If one were to create a ranking of contemporary women's prose, Grazyna Plebanek would certainly find herself at the top. One should note however, that women's prose does not mean a predictable love story with Her, waiting for Prince Charming, and Him - an object of dreams and desire Plebanek manages to write about women without resorting to cheap romance, without avoiding difficult subjects, with a truthful depiction of realities and sympathy for the virtues and vices of her heroines. Her stories do not always head for a happy end, often the final peace is bought with suffering. The heroines of Plebanek's novels are capable of admitting they've had enough - of the life they lead, of their husbands, their jobs. What is more important, they are also capable of saying they want to do something about it, they are open to change. They are women who are uncomfortable with the traditionally defined roles of mother, wife, mistress or daughter. They are capable of naming the roles themselves and they can fight for staying true to themselves.
FEMALE FRIENDSHIP
Both "Girls from Portofino" and "Box of Stilettos" are a superb picture of female friendship. What is interesting and worth stressing, women can create a space where they feel good and safe. When together, they can be themselves, they do not need to play any roles, they can talk about their problems. This is very important because others expect a woman to constantly change masks. She is to perfectly fulfil the role of a mother, wife or mistress. Weakness is failure. A woman must always be able to cope. Plebanek shows readers a true picture of women - full of colour and ambiguity. Her heroines can fight for themselves and they draw the strength for their private wars from the friendship with other women.
In "A Box of Stilettos" Plebanek creates a more stereotypical image of friendship. Here women's meetings often turn into gossiping sessions. But - what is interesting - it is during these seemingly carefree meetings that the convention is broken and we learn about important things: the next pregnancy, problems at work, a husband's and probably also a female friend's infidelity. The proverbial "tea, coffee and cakes" take on a confessional character thanks to the secrets disclosed in an almost "by the way" fashion. Przystupa is, in fact, a lonely person. It is true that her employers disregard the hierarchy of the servant-mistress relationship, but this does not lead to partnership or equality. Przystupa becomes hired help, and the woman who allows her to learn the secrets of her life does not really give up the power that hiring and paying wages gives her. The heroine of Plebanek's novel is someone who is to help reach a goal (e.g. the planned departure of Star, which never happens). She silently accompanies those, for whom she works. She develops to start deciding about her own life, choose her own path, and not allow others to influence her choices. The period of listening to the confessions of women for whom she works or simply discovering their secrets, turns out to be a stage in a process of growing up and discovering herself. EMIGRATION "A Girl Called Przystupa" is a novel which, in large part, takes place outside Poland. One could even say that leaving the family village by the heroine for the city is tantamount to emigration. But it is mainly travelling. It is a chance for a new life for Przystupa. After all we read the important sentence: "Finally she understood she had to leave". Being on the road becomes a necessity. Plebanek depicts in an excellent way the transitory character of what seems stable, the impermanence of events, the inability to take root and finally the role of chance that affects the fate of the heroine. Plebanek's portrait of the émigré-traveller Przystupa is convincing, unlike the descriptions served to readers in "Pani na domkach" (Lady of the houses) by Joanna Pawluskiewicz or "Szczescie za progiem" (Happiness beyond the threshold) by Manula Kalicka. Determination, stoic calm, inner strength and a sense of own value is what characterises Przystupa and help her survive difficult moments. The myth of a better life, which for the women that employ her turned out to be an illusion, for her is something real. Her life indeed does undergo a great transformation. We watch as the ugly duckling turns into a beautiful swan, as a confused girl turns into a woman, whom knows what she wants, as a shy scared person becomes someone who is not afraid of fighting for herself. The story of Przystupa is a story of how the ordinary can turn into the extraordinary. We have an opportunity to travel with the heroine through various homes, which is, one has to say, an instructive journey. First she works in the city for Star. She sees an unhappy family, one based on lies. The husband tries to promote his wife, the wife tries to convince the media she is one of a kind and in the process both forget about their relationship. In Sweden Przystupa works for Mrs Hyra - a vulgar woman, who celebrates being Polish and religious to the point of being a caricature. Then Przystupa takes care of the house and children of Mrs Weak and she cleans the house of the Doctor, who decides to have her coming out despite her old age and find happiness in lesbian love. The house of gossip- and appearances-loving Gun is the next stop for the heroine. Plebanek is not afraid of showing the dark side of the émigré success. The women Przystupa works for can be seen as those who "made it". The truth, however, is very different. Promoted by her husband and created by plastic surgeons Star feels neglected in her relationship. The vulgar Hyra thinks only about what is appropriate, is keen to note when other slip up. The national values she constantly evokes are only a way to hide her feeling of failure. Mrs. Weak is afraid to be alone, so she tolerates - up to a point - her husband, who torments her physically and psychologically. Gun seems nosy, happy to see others trip up, a classic false friend and gossip, but in fact she is living through the drama of being abandoned in her relationship and unsuccessfully trying to have a second child. Przystupa appears in their lives at a crucial moment. She is a "good spirit" on the one hand, but on the other she triggers a chain of events that lead to important changes in their lives. She is silent, accompanies them, she is constantly on the road and her presence uncovers what has been earlier successfully hidden. The heroine of "A Box of Stilettos" is also in to some extent an émigré, only an internal one. When after an unsuccessful attempt to go back to work she decides to stay at home with her son, her choice is hard to understand for her co-workers. The world of a small child proves to be a long way away from the world of big projects and financial transactions. Even though the heroine did not go anywhere, her life begins to follow a completely different path than the lives of her friends. BASEMENT VANTAGE POINT In the work of Grazyna Plebanek one could certainly find traces of the fissures of existence and the metaphysics of cleaning cloths written about by Jolanta Brach-Czaina. The author keenly watches the areas of femininity that are not talked about, she appreciates the importance of the everyday experience and the ordinary, often embarrassing experience. For example in "Box of Stilettos" the author shows motherhood without idealism. Instead of a mother who is happy, constantly active, and growing lazy by just taking care of the baby, we see a woman who is fed up with getting up at night, whose breasts hurt and who dreams about dreaming. She has no time for herself, phone calls in the morning steal from her precious moments of peace and quiet before her baby son wakes up. What's more, her sister and mother in law, without being asked, keep instructing the young mother what else she should do and how far she is from being the perfect mother and wife. The heroine however, has the courage to stand up for herself against the family and acquaintances who want to run her life -- she tells her mother in law that even though she is expecting a baby, there will be no wedding. Later she spontaneously gets married, thus avoiding a great family celebration. Finally she does not prepare the traditional Polish Easter breakfast, because she wants to rest. She fights for her right to her own everyday life. The girl friends from "Girls from Portofino" also experience difficult times. Back in their childhood they are afraid to go to the earth mound behind the school because it is allegedly a place frequented by a sexual pervert. They learn about rejection when they are falsely accused of theft. Hanka has to fight a private battle for the right to a different life. Her mother believes that a girl's value is measured by the number of boys wooing her and that the age of twenty marks a dangerous time of getting close to spinsterhood. She is also a supporter of peculiarly understood marriage vows: it does not matter that her husband beats her - if she vowed to be with him at the altar, a divorce is out of the question. Better to have a husband that beats you than not have a husband at all. Hanka has the courage to oppose such a model of a relationship. Plebanek also tackles the problem of heartlessness of women towards their own sex. A good example is the attitude of the nurse towards Mania when the girl is giving birth - indifferent, without a trace of empathy, as if she were an object. "A Girl Called Przystupa" is a novel which puts special emphasis on the "ground floor" vantage point of the narration (or literally the basement, because that is where the heroine lives in the house of Star). Even the author herself talks about the "garbage can vantage point" in one of her interviews. Przystupa, as a servant, cleaning lady, nanny, sees more and more clearly. Cleaning literally she also uncovers dirt in a metaphoric sense, which, as it turns out, is often hidden from the critical public eye. Problems with alcohol, homosexual inclinations, household violence, cheating on a spouse, sexual indifference, prostitution, gossiping and slander - it cannot be immediately seen, it is not discussed although sometimes everybody knows about it. Przystupa not only cleans and recycles some of the dirt -- she also has to run from some it. Sometimes she polishes a dirty surface so hard that she uncovers its long hidden shine. This is because she does not judge, she tries to understand and allow everybody to live with the consequences of their own choices. Przystupa seems to sense that the bitter, malicious, aggressive women she meets on her path, are, in fact, unhappy. In the last novel of Plebanek we will also find important fragments on marginalising the female experience. We can read about sexual harassment and turning the victim into the guilty party, about rape, masturbation, about the waning emotions and desire in a marriage, about buying oneself peace with one's body, about the first menstruation as a celebration of femininity, about abortions on the black market, about problems with getting pregnant. Przystupa seems to be a confidant who listens, speaks rarely but is able to help and show the right way. By gathering and recoding the narratives of others she grows to create her own narrative. The act of liberation is sealed during her passionate night with the Lonely One. Przystupa leaves in the morning with a new strength and a conviction that she will not waste her life. AND THIS IS THE STORY OF WOMEN... The work of Plebanek is a unique, because intelligent, credible, friendly and feminist depiction of women. Thanks to her, Polish popular literature has something to be proud of. Especially that the author's last novel "A Girl Called Przystupa" is, in fact, a border-line text. There is a lot of references to the novel of the road, to the picaresque, crime story, but also to a good social novel or a good family yarn. Plebanek is not afraid of creating strong images of women. Grochola, seen as a star of women's prose, could learn a lot from the author of "Box of Stilettos". And thanks to Grazyna Plebanek we can say that the Harlequin type of novel for women is finally heading into oblivion. It is being replaced by literature for women who seek a story told in an intelligent way. A story, which a woman can look at like at a mirror and say: this story could be about me.
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photo by Stephan Vanfleteren