Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Poland translated: the post-communist generation of writers

  • Published:
Studies in East European Thought Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This article is concerned with writing in Poland since the collapse of Communism. It focuses mainly on the generation of Polish writers who made their debut around the time of the collapse of Communism and whose work has since begun to appear in English translation. It considers the changing focus of the post-Communist generation of writers, asks how the translations of their work represent Poland to the world and what these works might indicate about changes within contemporary Polish literary and political culture. In particular the article looks at recent fiction from Polish Women Writers and themes in recent writing including the ideas of Poland as Post-Communist, Post-nationalist, Post-Jewish and Post-German.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Many of these are available in English, for example: Edelman (1945: 1990); Szpilman (1946: 2000); Grynberg (1969: 1993); Fink (1987: 1989); Wojdowski (1971: 1997); Ficowski (1967: 2000).

  2. A discussion of Żeromski’s life and work can be found in: Miłosz (1983: 365–369). Extracts from Ashes can be found in: Mikoś (2006).

  3. This story can also be found in: Halikowska and Hyde (1996).

  4. For a details of censorship surrounding the ‘Recovered Territories’ see: Tighe (1990) and Leftwich-Curry (1984).

  5. A substantial selection of Różycki’s work, including several poems mentioned here, can also be found in: Dehnel (2008).

  6. Originally published in Poland as Wojna polsko-ruska, pod flag biało-czerwona, it was published in the US under the title Snow White and Russian Red (Atlantic Monthly: NY, 2005). White and Red is the title of the edition released for sale in the UK.

  7. Other useful sites dealing with Polish recent literature are: www.polishwriting.net; and www.CESLIT (Central European and Slavic Literature in Translation).

  8. Two early attempts to chart some of the new directions were: March (1990) and March (1994).

References

  • Culture Vulture. (2006). Polish writers. www.blogs.guardian.co.uk/culturevulture/archives/2006/01/30. Cited 30 January 2009.

  • Chwin, S. (1995: 2005). Death in Danzig. London: Secker & Warburg.

  • Dehnel, J. (Ed.). (2008). Six Polish poets. Todmorden: Arc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Edelman, M. (1945: 1990). The Ghetto fights. London: Bookmarks.

  • Ficowski, J. (1967: 2000). Regions of the great controversy. London: Newman-Hemisphere.

  • Fink, I. (1987: 1989). A scrap of time. Harmondsworth: Penguin.

  • Forum Polek. (1988). Forum Polek: Polish women’s forum: A Women’s anthology in Polish and English. London Forum Publication Group.

  • Goerke, N. (2001). Farwells to plasma. Prague: Twisted Spoon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gomułka, S., & Polonsky, A. (Eds.). (1990). Polish paradoxes. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gross, J. T. (1988). Neighbours: The destruction of the Jewish community in Jedwabne, Poland 1941. London: Random House.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gross, J. T. (2004). After Auschwitz: The reality and meaning of postwar antisemitism in Poland. In J. Frankel (Ed.), Dark times, dire decisions: Jews and communism (pp. 199–223). Oxford: Oxford UP.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grynberg, H. (1969: 1993). The victory. Evanston: Northwestern UP.

  • Halikowska, T., & Hyde, G. (Eds.). (1996). The eagle and the crow: Modern Polish short stories. London: Serpent’s Tail.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoffman, E. (1997). Shtetl. London: Secker & Warburg.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoffman, E. (2004). After such knowledge. London: Secker & Warburg.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huelle, P. (1987: 1991) Who was David Weisser? London: Bloomsbury.

  • Huelle, P. (1991: 1994). Moving house. London: Bloomsbury.

  • Huelle, P. (2002: 2005). Mercedes Benz. London: Bloomsbury.

  • Huelle, P. (2004: 2007). Castorp. London: Bloomsbury.

  • Huelle, P. (2007: 2008). The last supper. London: Bloomsbury.

  • Huelle, P. (2007b). The map. In A. Zagajewski (Ed.), Polish writers on writing. San Antonio: Trinity UP.

    Google Scholar 

  • Keane, J. (Ed.). (1988). Civil society and the state. London: Verso.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kielar, M. (2006). Salt monody. Zephyr: Brookline.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krajewski, M. (2006: 2008). Death in Breslau: An Eberhard mock investigation. London: Maclehose.

  • Krall, H. (1977: 1986). Shielding the flame. New York: Henry Holt.

  • Krall, H. (1985: 1992). The subtenant—to outwit god. Northwestern UP: Evanson.

  • Krall, H. (2006). The woman from Hamburg and other true stories. Other: New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kundera, M. (1984). A kidnapped West or culture bows out. Granta no.11. Cambridge: Granta.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kurczewska, J. (1991). The Polish intelligentsia: Departure from the scene. In M. Bernhard & H. Szlajfer (Eds.), From the Polish underground: Selections from Krytyka 1978–93. Pennsylvania: Pennnsylvania State UP.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leftwich-Curry, J. (1984). The black book of Polish censorship. Vintage: New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Libera, A. (1998: 2001). Madame. Edinburgh: Canongate.

  • March, M. (Ed.). (1990). Child of Europe: A new anthology of East European poetry. Harmondsworth: Penguin.

    Google Scholar 

  • March, M. (Ed.). (1994). Description of a struggle: The Picador book of contemporary East European prose. London: Picador.

    Google Scholar 

  • Masłowska, D. (2003: 2005). White and Red. New York, London: Grove/Atlantic Monthly.

  • Mengham, R., Pióro, T., & Szymor, P. (Eds.). (2003). Altered state: The new Polish poetry. Todmorden: Ark.

    Google Scholar 

  • Michnik, A. (1987). Letters from prison: And other essays. Berkeley: California UP.

    Google Scholar 

  • Michnik, A. (1990). The two faces of Europe. In: Writings on the East (pp. 1–5). New York: New York Review of Books.

  • Michnik, A. (1998). Letters from freedom: Post-cold war realities and perspectives. Berkeley: California UP.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mikoś, M. J. (2006). Polish literature from 1864 to 1918: Realism and young Poland. An anthology. Bloomington: Slavica.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miłosz, C. (1983). The history of Polish literature (pp. 365–369). Berkeley: California UP.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pirie, D. (Ed.). (1993). Young poets of a New Poland. London: Forest/UNESCO.

    Google Scholar 

  • Polonsky, A. (Ed.). (1990). My brother’s keeper: Recent debates on the holocaust. Routledge: London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Polonsky, A., & Michlic, J. B. (Eds.). (2004). The neighbours respond: The controversy over the Jedwabne massacre in Poland. Princeton: Princeton UP.

    Google Scholar 

  • Różycki, T. (2007). The forgotten keys. Brookline: Zephyr.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sapkowski, A. (1993:2007) The last wish. London: Gollancz.

  • Sapkowski, A. (1994: 2008). Blood of Elves. London: Gollancz.

  • Schwartz, A., & Von Flotow, L. (Eds.). (2007). The third shore: Women’s fiction from East Central Europe. Kerry: Brandon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stasiuk, A. (1995: 2000) White Raven. London: Serpents Tail.

  • Stasiuk, A. (1995: 2003). Tales of Galicia. Prague: Twisted Spoon.

  • Stasiuk, A. (1999: 2007). Nine. London: Harvill-Secker.

  • Steiner, G. (1979). Language and silence. Harmondsworth: Penguin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stonor Saunders, F. (1999). Who paid the piper: The CIA and the cultural cold war. London: Granta.

    Google Scholar 

  • Szaruga, L. (1994). Post German, post Jewish. In R. Petrie (Ed.), The fall of communism and the rise of nationalism. London: Index on Censorship/Cassell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Szewc, P. (1987: 1999). Annihilation. Normal: Dalkey Archive.

  • Szpilman, W. (1946: 2000). The pianist. London: Phoenix.

  • Tighe, C. (1990). Gdansk: National identity in the Polish German borderlands. London: Pluto.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tighe, C. (1991). Interview with Ryszard Kapuśćinski. In N. Jenkins (Ed.), The works. Cardiff: Welsh Union of Writers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tokarczuk, O. (1998: 2002). House of day, house of night. London: Granta.

  • Wojdowski, B. (1971: 1997). Bread for the departed. Evanston: Northwestern UP.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Derby, Kedleston Road, Derby, DE22 1GB, UK

    Carl Tighe

Authors
  1. Carl Tighe
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Carl Tighe.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Tighe, C. Poland translated: the post-communist generation of writers. Stud East Eur Thought 62, 169–195 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11212-010-9113-z

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11212-010-9113-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation