Censorship Towards Czesław Miłosz in Poland in the Fifties after Having Chosen the Emigration

This article shows the outline of problems connected with censoring Czesław Miłosz’s literary output in Poland in the 1950s, when the poet breaks off with the national government and chooses political asylum in France, becoming an émigré. The article looks into (in the space of decade) the periods of particularly tightened control towards Miłosz, shows how the censorship was tightening and relaxing when it came to his name. In the Polish October several poems and an excerpt from the novel The Seizure of Power was published, though – despite publishing advertisements – none of the poet’s books came out

The Issa Valley in Censorship Documents. On the Thaw Reception of Czesław Miłosz’s Novel

Czesław Miłosz’s The Issa Valley [Dolina Issy] was published in the Paris Literary Institute in 1955 and soon after started paving its way to readers in the author’s native country, in spite of the censorship. This article traces back the novel’s reception in the so-called Thaw (post-Stalin) period (1955–1957) in the light of official domestic publications and the documents of the Censorship Office. Those years saw publication of several argumentative and favourable essays on the novel (by e.g. I. Sławińska, J. Błoński, J. Zawieyski). The censors banned just one extensive discussion text on The Issa Valley, by Jarosław-Marek Rymkiewicz, and this owing to where it was published. A ban on publishing the poet’s works in a nonserial form was maintained. In that transitional period, new directives were coming from the communist-party headquarters, and the censors would often consult the heads of departments they reported to, or the Central Censorship Office directly. The situation grew severer by 1958, with the poet’s name being consistently removed from most publications

Censorship as a Taboo during Political “Thaw”

During political “thaw”, in years 1955−1956 in the People’s Republic of Poland, it write in newspapers about themes banned earlier. One of such many theme formerly banned was censorship (Main Office of Control of Press, Publications and Shows). Journalists wrote about books banned by censorship, prohibited publications and black-listed writers, whose books had removed from libraries and destroyed. Situation is changed in 1958 – it is not allowed to write again about existence and activity of censorshi

W stronę neotomizmu: Czesław Miłosz jako czytelnik Art et scolastique Jacques’a Maritaina

The aim of this article is to show the influence of Jacques Maritain’s philosophical work Art et scolastique on the young Czesław Miłosz and his work, and how (or whether) it shaped the poet’s views on art in subsequent years. The author analyzes Maritain’s work on art in the context of theology and Miłosz’s articles published between the two world wars. In terms of methodology, the article draws on the concept of intertextuality, pointing to the dependence of the poet’s thinking during this period on that of the French philosopher. Maritain’s aesthetic creationism was seen by some inter-war literary critics, including Miłosz himself, as a third way between the mimetic aesthetics or art in the service of ideas and the “angelism” of symbolic art and art for art’s sake. In Maritain’s aesthetics, the writer found a system of concepts through which he opened himself up to issues related to human spirituality, ontology and religion. Maritain’s distinction between the purpose of the work and the purpose of the maker directed Miłosz’s attention to the author (artifex), as one that has been singled out as bound to strive for self-improvement and self-development. To a much lesser extent, this concept influenced his poetics. His works written in the twenty-year interwar period are saturated with dark symbolism and modernistic mannerisms.Celem artykułu jest ukazanie, jaki wpływ wywarła na młodego Czesława Miłosza i jego twórczość lektura dzieła filozoficznego Art et scolastique Jacques’a Maritaina i jak (czy) kształtowała poglądy poety na sztukę także w kolejnych latach. Autorka dokonuje analizy zarówno wyżej wymienionego dzieła Maritaina, poświęconego sztuce w kontekście teologii, jak i artykułów Miłosza publikowanych w międzywojniu. W zakresie metodologii artykuł czerpie z koncepcji intertekstualności, wskazując na zależność myśli poety w tym okresie twórczości od myśli francuskiego filozofa. Kreacjonizm estetyczny Maritaina postrzegany był przez część międzywojennej krytyki literackiej, także przez samego Miłosza, jako trzecia droga między estetyką mimetyczną czy sztuką w służbie idei a „anielstwem” symbolizmu i wizją sztuki dla sztuki. W estetyce Maritaina pisarz znalazł system pojęć, dzięki którym otworzył się na problematykę związaną z duchowością człowieka, ontologią i religią. Maritainowskie rozróżnienie celu dzieła i celu twórcy skierowało uwagę Miłosza na autora (artifex), który został wyróżniony jako mający dążyć do samodoskonalenia się i rozwoju wewnętrznego. W dużo mniejszym stopniu koncepcja ta wpłynęła na jego poetykę. Jego utwory powstałe w Dwudziestoleciu nasycone są ciemnym symbolizmem i modernistyczną manierą

Słowo od Redakcji

Zadanie pt. „Digitalizacja i udostępnienie w Cyfrowym Repozytorium Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego kolekcji czasopism naukowych wydawanych przez Uniwersytet Łódzki” nr 885/P-DUN/2014 zostało dofinansowane ze środków MNiSW w ramach działalności upowszechniającej nauk

Ritual as reflected by censorship. The Control Bureau as the custodian of the cultural image of the authorities in the early days of the People’s Republic of Poland

The ritual as a series of actions specified by traditions or a given political system, defined in detail and repeatable, was also fulfilled in the communist system. There it was aimed at introducing and amalgamating the order imposed on Poland by the Soviets after WWII. It could only be achieved by strictly observing the rules of Socialist rites. And that did not only apply to, however important, the celebrations of holidays according to the communist calendar, but also to the master principles which the enforcers of the new order used towards society. The indicated research material, extracted from censorship archives, shows that regardless of the changing media policy in the first decade after WWII, from the very beginning there existed invariable rules which constituted a compass for specific choices: the ban on criticising or disturbing the good name of the authorities, starting with Generalissimo Stalin, through the leaders of the states subordinate to him, higher-ranking officials, police and the army, to udarniks. The Control Bureau for Press, Publications and Performances was one of the most active bodies in the field. In the privacy of their offices, without the publicity so common for the clamorous ceremonies and rallies, censors worked to maintain the Stalinist rituals

Słowo od Redakcji

Wstęp do Acta Universitatis Lodziensis. Folia Litteraria Polonica Tom 6 (2003)Zadanie pt. „Digitalizacja i udostępnienie w Cyfrowym Repozytorium Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego kolekcji czasopism naukowych wydawanych przez Uniwersytet Łódzki” nr 885/P-DUN/2014 zostało dofinansowane ze środków MNiSW w ramach działalności upowszechniającej nauk

Od redakcji

Od redakcjiWprowadzenie do numeru 1, tom 14 (2011