Poland Literature: From Socialist Realism to Contemporary Trends
Tragically long is the list of losses suffered by Polish literature during the years of the Second World War and the German occupation. In post-war literature, in addition to the war theme masterfully developed by Tadeusz Borowski (1922-1951), the problems connected to the new social order of the country begin to enter, albeit conditioned by an overly rigid interpretation of “socialist realism”. The process of gradual abandonment of political-cultural dogmatism, considerably accelerated by the turn of 1956, develops more original creative researches. In the field of poetry, alongside authors trained before the war, such as Iwaszkiewicz, Mieczysław Jastrun (1903-1983) and Adam Waźyk (1905-1982), the names of Tadeusz Róźewicz (b.1921), Zbigniew Herbert (1924-1998), Wisława Szymborska (b.1923; who was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1996) and Miron Białoszewski (1922-1983). Among the members of the so-called “generation of 1956”, the personalities of Jerzy Harasymowicz (1933-1999), Tadeusz Nowak (1930-1991) and Stanisław Grochowiak (1934-1976) stand out. Poets who made their debut after 1960 (Zbigniew Jerzyna, b.1938; Krzyszof Nowicki, 1940-97; Andrzej K. Waśkiewicz, b.1941; Ewa Lipska, b.1945) tend to subject their creative experiences to rigorous construction intellectual, while the voices of the younger poetry (Ryszard Krynicki, n. 1943; Adam Zagajewski, b. 1945; Stanisław Barańczak, b. 1946; Julian Kornhauser, b. 1946), moved by the awareness of the crisis of values, resort to the widest possible choice of means of expression. The narrative also appears very lively and full of ferments, which, after having managed to create an autonomous line of development rooted in concrete social experiences, is aimed at defending the personality of the writer and rediscovering the values and dramas of the individual. Existential themes offer insight into the novels of Julian Stryjkowski (1905-1996), Andrzej Kuśniewicz (1904-1993), Tadeusz Konwicki (b. 1926); the socio-political problematic finds its illustrators in Wilhelm Mach (1917-1965), Wojchiech Źukrowski (1916-2000) and Jerzy Putrament (1910-1986), while the novels by Teodor Parnicki (1908-1988) and Hanna Malewska (1911-1983) deal with historical themes. Many of the major contemporary authors, such as Jerzy Andrzejewski (1909-1983), Tadeusz Breza (1905-1970), Kazimierz Brandys (1916-2000) and Adolf Rudnicki (1912-1990), alternate between essay, diary and novel. A particularly important place is occupied by the satirical and grotesque prose of Sławomir Mrożek (b. 1930) and Stanisław Dygat (1914-1978); Stanisław Lem’s science fiction fiction is also noteworthy(no. 1921). Prosecutors such as Kornel Filipowicz (1913-1990), Leopold Buczkowski (1905-1989) and Marek Nowakowski (b.1935) sought effective formulas for expressing social change. See cachedhealth for more information about Poland.
The peasant current also brings significant fruits (T. Nowak, J. Kawalec, Edward Redliński, b.1940, and Wiesław Myśliwski, b.1932), while the works that dig deep into biographies and genealogies (Igor Newerly, 1903-1987) or those that carry on the dialogue with history and the present time (R. Bratny, n.1921; Halina Auderska, 1904-2000; Even the multifaceted aspect of dramatic production proves the use of different keys, suitable not only for recognizing contemporaneity, but also its transformations. Next to L. Kruczkowski and J. Szaniawski, prominent places go to S. Mrozek and T. Rózewicz. A characteristic phenomenon is the entry of many poets into the theatrical field (Z. Herbert, S. Grochowiak, JM Rymkiewicz, n. 1935). There was also an awakening of socially committed dramaturgy rich in formal inventiveness (Ireneusz Iredynski, 1939-85; Janusz Krasinski) and delved into the depths of national myths (J. Mikke, J. Zurek, T. Lubienski). Starting from the second half of the seventies, hand in hand with the worsening of the rift between intellectuals and political power, numerous publishing houses out of the reach of censorship and unauthorized magazines arose. In the period of the socio-political crisis of the years 1981-84, the tension between writers and the political environment worsened but, despite the different reactions of the former, the stormy events of those years did not lead to a radical change in literary trends. Poetry, rather than decisively advancing new proposals, has followed the currents already formed previously; the collections of rather than advancing with decision new proposals, it followed the currents already formed previously; the collections of rather than advancing with decision new proposals, it followed the currents already formed previously; the collections of Artur Miedzyrzecki (1922-1996), Jan Twardowski, Ewa Lipska and, among the poets living abroad, Cz. Milosz, B. Taborski, J. Niemojewski and A. Czerniawski. An important event in the opera of the following years were also the new volumes by W. Szymborska, T. Rózewicz and Z. Herbert and, in the group of the most notable poets of the middle generation, those of Adam Zagajewski and Stanislaw Baranczak. Józef Lozinski, Ryszard Schubert, Marek Soltysik, Dariusz Bitner, Tadeusz Siejak and Eustachy Rylski stand out among the young storytellers, united more by the coincidence in the time of their beginnings than by deeper generational conditioning. In the prose it is worth noting the revival of the Holocaust-inspired theme of Polish Jews, as well as the traces of their past culture and old customs (Henryk Grynberg, Andrzej Szczypiorski, and among the young people Paweł Huelle and Piotr Szewc) and the fascination exerted by episodes taken from the history of the century. XIX (Władysław Terlecki). The Eighties brought the fruit of the new artistic achievements of J. Stryjkowski, A. Kusniewicz, K. Brandys (the magnificent flowering of the work of T. Konwicki should also be emphasized) and gave birth to new talents: Zyta Oryszyn, Krystyna Kofta, Anna Bojarska. Great individuality expressed Andrzej Luczenczyk (1948-91), who died prematurely, while they surprised Jan Drzezdzon, Janusz Anderman, Marek Slyk with creative audacity and intellectual discipline. In the panorama of dramaturgical production, one of the most characteristic aspects of the last decade of the twentieth century was the influence exerted on drama by genres such as reportage, film scripts and musicals., together with the lively development of literary forms such as radio drama (Jerzy Janicki, Zofia Posmysz) and television drama. Since the fall of the communist regime (1989) and the abolition of censorship, all the publishing houses that had previously operated in hiding, have made known the reserves collected over the course of at least 15 years and there has been a wide opening towards the ‘work of writers in exile (editions of the prose and essays by Gustaw Herling Grudziński, Stanislaw Vincenz, Józef Czapski, Wlodzimierz Odojewski and others). Among the most significant literary magazines, Teksty drugie, Brulion, NaGłos have been added to those existing for a long time (Twórczość, Odra), Kultura Niezależna, and also Zeszyty Literackie (Paris), Kontakt (Paris), Aneks (London 1973-90). An emerging phenomenon on the literary scene is a generation of writers all born in the 1960s such as Olga Tokarczuk, author of novels translated into various languages, Manuela Gretkowska, novelist and screenwriter, Zyta Rudzka, poetess and author of prose and Izabela Filipiak. Also of note is the work of Jaroslaw Mikolajewski, poet, journalist and translator of Italian literature.
