"Tańcowała igła z nitką" ["The Needle Danced with the Thread"] and "Kaczka Dziwaczka" ["Dotty Duck"] in the Past and the Present. On the Process of These Works Permeating the Polish Culture and Language

Abstract

The article tackles Jan Brzechwa’s first works addressed to children. The author presents the moment the collections Tańcowała igła z nitką and Kaczka Dziwaczka were created. The primary aim of the article is to show how Brzechwa’s first works of children’s literature collected in the above mentioned books were received by educators and literary critics. Another objective of the study is to depict how these books became a part of the national literary culture, using selected examples. The author achieved this goal by examining selected poems and showing how they gained popularity through reeditions issued by popular publishing houses, publication in anthologies of children’s literature, audiobooks read by popular actors, songs, on the Internet. The final aim of the article is to show to what extent quotes from Brzechwa’s selected works permeated the Polish language and became an essential part of the linguistic experience of contemporary Poles.