|
The regaining of Polish independence in 1919 after generations of partition inspired new literary activity. The Skamander group of urban poets, including Julian Tuwim and Kazimierz Wierzynski, called for an end to nationalist preoccupation and for experimental freedom; other significant figures included the novelists Marja Dabrowska and Zofia Nalkowska (1885–1954) and the dramatists Karol Hubert Rostworoski (1877–1938) and Jerzy Szaniawski. The period's greatest writing, which gained recognition only after World War II, was the prose and drama of Stanislaw Witkiewisz, Witold Gombrowicz, and Bruno Schulz. Notable postwar writers who focused on the anguish of the period include Tadeusz Borowski, Jerzy Putrament, Leon Kruczkowski, and the great expatriate Polish poet Czeslaw Milosz, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1981.
The advent of the Communist regime was accompanied by themes of socialist realism. Communist writers include the poet Constantine Galcyzynski (1906–53) and the novelists Aleksander scibor-Rylski and Kazimierz Brandys. In 1956 writers joined in the popular uprising against the Moscow-dominated regime, and subsequently there was some relaxation of literary strictures. The thaw (culminating in the rise of the "Solidarity" movement, the state of emergency, and the collapse of Communism) resulted in renewed contact with the West and a surge of literary experimentation. Many novelists continued to explore themes related to the war experience and its aftermath; others wrote works of psychological and political realism, reflecting current European trends.
Among the foremost postwar novelists are Wilhelm Mach, Leopold Buczkowski, Roman Bratny, Bohdan Czeszko, Julian Stryjkowski, Stanislaw Dygat, Stanislaw Lem, and Slawomir Mrozek, also well known for his plays and short stories. Postwar poetry in Poland deals principally with philosophical concerns. The chief poets of the era include Stanislaw Jerzy Lec, Zbigniew Herbert, Tadeusz ROzewicz, and Wislawa Szymborska (awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1996). The works of Miron Bialoszewsky, Jerzy Harasymowicz, and Stanislaw Grochowiak are in a more lyrical vein. Notable among the writers who began as members of the Polish New Wave movement of the late 1960s is the expatriate poet and novelist Adam Zagajewski. Principal essayists and critics include Tadeusz Breza, Artur Sandauer, Jan Kott, and Jan Blonski.
Sections in this article:
|
