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Will Poland Survive?
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14125 |
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BOOK WORLD
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1 / 1988 |
2,087 Words |
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Krzysztof Klopotowski
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POLISH TALKS IN SUMMER, 1983
Jaroslaw Marek Rymkiewicz
Published by the Polish underground press.
Paris: Instytut Literacki, 1984
Delegalized Solidarity confers cultural awards every year. Among the works that have been honored is a book by Jaroslaw Marek Rymkiewicz published in the underground press entitled Polish Talks in Summer, 1983 (Rozmowy polskie latem 1983 r).
Until he was fired from his job for political reasons, the author worked at the Polish Academy of Sciences. Although he is an academician, his style is not pedantic. He has written extensively on the outstanding Polish writers of the nineteenth century--the most important period in Polish literature--when the leading issues of modern Polish culture were formulated. Polish Talks in Summer, 1983 describes a kind of spiritual freedom that exists in Poland despite the crushing of Solidarity, the biggest social and national rebellion in the history of communism.
In the twentieth century, the eighties are the most difficult period for the Poles, with the exception of the five years of Nazi occupation. During the last two hundred years, those in which the country has been independent have been few: During half of this period, there was no Polish state, since Poland was partitioned among her three stronger neighbors: Russia, Prussia, and Austria. But even then the country was not as ruined as it is today. In present-day Poland, political failure is joined by economic collapse. Forty years of communist rule means that one now hears Poland called the "Bangladesh of Europe."
Poland has a splendid historical tradition; it once dominated Russia in East Central Europe and was a very rich country. The memory of the past does not calmly permit toleration of Soviet captivity today. A numerous, highly educated intelligentsia evaluates reality according to Western standards, thereby deepening the frustration. Poland is like a dwarf with an enormous head from a noble family who exists today as an impoverished odd-ball. On his sick bed, the dwarf does not want to reconcile himself to either his dwarfishness or his possible death. Rymkiewicz's book reports on the spiritual situation of this Poland.
A moment in history
The title, Polish Talks in Summer, 1983, refers to a particular moment in recent history, the aftermath of the pilgrimage of Pope John Paul II to his homeland in 1983. Papal masses with the participation of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people were the greatest possible demonstration of support for the ideals of Solidarity and belief in the rebirth of the country through a miraculous means. This was a moment of particular intensity in the collective consciousness of Poland. It demanded a reexamination of history and an attempt to penetrate the future. In the following month Rymkiewicz began his book.
Rymkiewicz's tale is an attempt to write about the agony of the nation--about the ultimate struggle, when the stakes are life itself and the outcome is uncertain. The fate of the Poles is compared with the fate of three other historically burdened nations that have shared the same soil: the Jadzwings, who were
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