Bibliotekarz Podlaski. Ogólnopolskie Naukowe Pismo Bibliotekoznawcze i Bibliologiczne
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This article reviews Irena Grudzińska-Gross’s book Miłosz i długi cień wojny [Milosz and the Long Shadow of War], which was published by Pogranicze in 2020. The reviewer analyses the definition of violence and its relation to Polish narratives of wartime solidarity seen as heroism. To this end, she examines the work of Czesław Miłosz, written during the Second World War, and later texts thematising the war experience. An additional layer of the publication is the poet’s take on the Jewish question – both in the context of Miłosz’s poetic works and the subsequent discussions they provoked. The author, taking into account Miłosz’s autobiogeographical predispositions, also analyses the changing images of Warsaw in his works as a space where the poet spent most of the war. For this reason, she examines the poet’s attitude to the Warsaw Uprising and the public perception of his decision not to join the cause. 

Travels were an important part of Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz’s life. One of the destinations he chose was the Soviet Union. These trips were usually of an official character, and less often – private. The writer meticulously noted down his impressions in his private Dzienniki [Diaries], and sometimes shared them with the Polish reader in columns and newspaper articles. The author of Panny z Wilka [The Maids from Wilko] masterfully immortalised the realities prevailing in the Soviet Union. Iwaszkiewicz’s view of Russia, and St Petersburg in particular, is not the account of an ordinary tourist, because the writer perceived the world through the prism of literature, constantly confronting reality with literary images. This makes Dzienniki extremely interesting material for analysis. This article takes a journey across Russia, in the footsteps of Iwaszkiewicz, focuses on literary allusions, admiration of nature and architecture, and pays special attention to the absurdities of the communist state. 

The aim of the article is to interpret a poem by Tadeusz Różewicz, Syn marnotrawny (z obrazu Hieronima Boscha) [The Prodigal Son (from the painting of Hieronymus Bosch)], from the volume Srebrny kłos [The Silver Ear of Corn] (1955). The poem is subjected to intertextual reading, which included strongly sketched autobiographical allusions, ecstatic descriptions of Bosch’s paintings and contextual references to the biblical parable of the prodigal son. Confronting the situation of the lyrical hero with the theological interpretation of the parable and reaching for the concept of reading the play proposed by Mieke Bal, ultimately reveals the kerygmatic meaning of the piece. 

The article is devoted to the discussion of Arcadian themes in the poetry of Apollon Maykov. It discusses the traditional idyllic depiction of Arcadia as the lost paradise of childhood, so yearned for by the poet. The presence of anti-idyllic motifs – escaping/leaving the earthly Eden – is also pointed out. Maykov’s Arcadian landscapes are also analysed in relation to the current of land poetry and the myth of the “nobleman’s nest”. The Arcadian nature has aesthetic (beauty and richness of nature) and ethical values for the poet (harmony, peace, goodness, naturalness and truthfulness). 

This article is a review of the book Tadeusz Miciński i ludzie epoki. Studia [Tadeusz Miciński and the People of the Age. Studies] under the scientific editorship of Marcin Bajko, Jarosław Ławski and Urszula M. Pilch, published by Temida 2 publishing house in Białystok in 2019. The researcher notes that the analysed book centres around the motif of “salvation”, that it is possible thanks to the poets dialoguing with the protagonist of the book, Tadeusz Miciński, through the multiplication of presence – translation into other languages and cultures, through discovering in the interpretation the traces of the author’s intellectual wanderings across other cultures and religions, thanks to contemporary means of communication resonating the work, and finally thanks to human memory and its testimonies. In conclu-sion, the researcher recommends the book as an indispensable tool not only to those interested in the author of Nietota [The Firmoss], but also in the literature of Polish modernism in general. 

Wacław Tkaczuk (1942–2018) was one of the most important commentators on Polish poetry after 1989, which is best exemplified in his radio broadcast series “Poems from newspapers and magazines” (Polish Radio Program 2, 1991–2014). The author of the article introduces Tkaczuk’s poetry (three volumes of poetry, publications in literary magazines), tries to reconstruct the poet’s creative process and, more importantly, his world-view transformations. 

The examples of documents of the Main Office for the Control of Presentations and Public Performances (GUKPIW) quoted in the article show the censorship strategies towards Słonimski. Interestingly, in this case the most controversial – from the point of view of GUKPPiW – were not the works of this writer, but his figure. This is particularly evident in the materials from 1976, after the death of the author of Alarm. As a result of the previously binding “entry” on the poet, only reprinting of the Polish Press Agency (PAP) communiqué was allowed. The censorship’s attitude to Słonimski is undeniably illustrated by the types of interference – the author was perceived as an undesirable, controversial figure, whose courageous actions – not least in the fight for freedom of speech in Poland – should not be reminisced. Mentions in the texts – potentially referring to the political context – were removed. Censorship was very meticulous: single words or whole sentences were cut out, and when it was not possible to “neutralise” the meaning of the text in this way – the whole thing was not allowed to be printed. Unfortunately, this way considerably impaired the reception of Słonimski.