Wypełnianie szczeliny? O perspektywie feministycznej w refleksji literaturoznawczej nad polskim oświeceniem

The article raises the problem of the use of the feminist criticism apparatus in research on the Polish Enlightenment literature. The method has not been popular among Polish experts of the epoch. The article discusses the advantages of feminism in literature studies as well as the potential risks associated with the application of the category gender to research on early literature. The greatest threat seems to be the failure to take into account the historical and socio-cultural context. The paper refers to other epochs or foreign literature, which may constitute a starting point for research into the literature of Polish Enlightenment. One such work is a monograph by Marek Jastrzębiec-Mosakowski entitled Strategie wymazywania. Kobiece bohaterki w męskich tekstach francuskiego Oświecenia [Strategies of erasure. Female heroines in the male texts of French Enlightenment]. The article lists researchers of Polish Enlightenment who notice the potential of gender studies (Barbara Judkowiak, Weronika Pawlik-Kwaśniewska) and  points to the areas of research and possibilities offered by the use of feminist criticism tools. The article aims at restoring the names of the previously anonymous female authors, discovering or re-reading their work, as well as opening new spaces for their description and interpretation.