Introduction. Phantasmatic Roots of the Present

The articles contained in the present volume are the aftermath of the conference Przeszłość -fantazmat -fantazja.Symboliczne rekonstrukcje historii Polski [The Past -Phantasms -Fantasies.Symbolic Reconstructions of Poland's Past] that took place on 27-28 February 2025 at the Faculty of Humanities, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń.The two days of intense deliberations revealed a multitude of references to Polish history that actualize the past in contemporary texts of culture, as well as a wealth of contexts and methodologies.This should not come as a surprise, given that it is texts of culture -above all, literature, painting and music -that played a considerable role in maintaining Polish sense of national identity during over one hundred years of the Partitions, while contemporarily, culture constitutes the field of struggle for Polish identity, the place of strives with Polishness which is frequently seen as an identity historically burdened: with martyrology, warcholstwo [trouble-making], colonial experience, serfdom, and the tradition of liberation (we recognize that