Names Between Gender Subversion and Form of Resistance in Lubiewo by Michał Witkowski

Abstract

This paper aims to examine the anthroponymic repertoire in Michał Witkowski’s cult novel Lubiewo (2005). Combining camp aesthetics, irony, and nostalgia for Socialist Poland, the novel portrays a unique speech community: a pre-emancipatory queer subculture marked by the use of feminine linguistic markers to refer to men, including female pseudonyms and nicknames. An analysis of the onomastic material in the novel reveals a rich inventory of both collective and individual names, as well as antonomastic and intertextual references. On one hand, this practice of renaming seeks to subvert the gender binary; on the other, it functions as a form of resistance—both against the repressive policies of Communism and against the identity homogenization brought about by the gay liberation movement.