Dyskursywne (re)konstruowanie charyzmy. Przypadek Lecha Wałęsy

Abstract

The paper analyzes the discursive reconstruction of L. Wa3êsa’s charisma by the Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper in response to S. Cenckiewicz and P. Gontarczyk’s book entitled SB a Lech Wa3êsa. Przyczynek do biografii [The secret police and Lech Wa3êsa. Addendum to a biography]. The paper uses the methodology of interpretative research which emphasizes the role of meaning for the social and political construction of reality. Inspired by the theoreti- cal and methodological proposals of discourse analysis it examines the mechanisms used to reconstruct Lech Wa3êsa’s charismatic identity in response to a book that undermines his so- cial image. These attempts also involve the construction of individual identity, in the case un- der analysis, the identity of historians and authors of the book who are responsible for undermining this image. Therefore, the paper also attempts to analyze media representations of S. Cenckiewicz and P. Gontarczyk. Attention is primarily focused on the key actors, on the features attributed to them and related argumentative strategies understood as a more or less intentional plan of discursive practices adopted in order to achieve defined social, political, linguistic or psychological purposes.