Literature in the Context of Unification Initiatives to Commemorate the 450th Anniversary of the Union of Lublin

The paper is an introduction to the discussion devoted to literary evidence of “unification initiatives” (unions, alliances, international agreements and other unification projects) as witnessed in the history of Europe over many centuries. Artistic writings have long presented the dialogue between union partners, taking place both in public (international or national) as well as private space. Among these phenomena, particularly noteworthy are unification visions, cultural osmosis, evidence of individual participation in unification processes, acts of building the collective awareness, ways of interpreting both shared and alien cultural or religious symbols, literary expressions of the relations between “I” and “You”, strategies used in constructing the linguistic image of the shared world and alien worlds. The paper attempts to systematize specific issues related to these problems and is an introduction to the discussion carried out in the latest issue of „Tematy i Konteksty”.