Anna Piliszewska: poems / 7
Bogusław Bakuła: “In This Monstrous Country There Is a Monstrous God.” Vasyl Stus on Eschatology and Theodicy / 11
This article presents the life and poetic work of Vasyl Stus (1938–1985), a Ukrainian poet who died in the Soviet concentration camp Kuchino on 4 September 1984. Today, he is considered one of the most outstanding Ukrainian poets of the 20th century. In the 1970s and 1980s, Vasyl Stus was an active member of the Ukrainian democratic opposition and co-founder of the Ukrainian Helsinki Group. For his stance, he was twice sentenced to prison and stayed in penal camps. His work from the 1970s oscillated between lyrical realism and poetry of rebellion against Soviet reality. In the late 1970s and 1980s, eschatological and metaphysical themes played an important role in Stus’s poetry. In his poetic dialogues with God, the poet emphasized themes of catastrophic theodicy and rejection of evil. His prison notes and translations are also a valuable part of his legacy. Today, Vasyl Stus and his literary work are considered an important symbol of national identity and steadfastness in Ukraine.
Keywords: Vasyl Stus, poetry, the generation of the sixties (szestydesiatnyki), Ukraine, USSR, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Ukrainian culture, communism, totalitarianism, Ukrainian anti-communist opposition, dissidence, metaphysics, theodicy, eschatology, catastrophism, exile, penal camp
Anna Goławska: poems / 26
Elżbieta Wicha-Wauben: Shadow, Dust, Hay / 30
The presented excerpt comes from the novel Cień, proch, siano (Shadow, Dust, Hay), inspired by 17th-century Dutch painting. The characters begin their journey in Lublin and reach Amsterdam. The main character is a young man who calls himself Jan Zachariasz. A young woman, who goes by the name of Panfilia Jansdochter van Lublin, and Wawrzyniec Krawiec, with whom she grew up, flee Lublin to escape punishment for alleged witchcraft. Wawrzyniec organizes a voyage from Kazimierz Dolny to Gdańsk on a Vistula riverboat. In Gdańsk, they board a ship called Fortuna and after a few weeks arrive in Amsterdam. There, their lives will take on a different dimension. Their views will change, new dreams will sprout; they will change their appearance and take on new names.
Ewa Mazur: poems / 49
Alfred Marek Wierzbicki: Lublin in the Late Poetry of Anna Kamieńska and Julia Hartwig / 52
An essay devoted to the image of Lublin in the late works of Anna Kamieńska and Julia Hartwig. In their poems, these outstanding Polish poets return, years later, to memories of their childhood and youth spent in Lublin. With the tragic events of World War II in mind, they talk about the world before the apocalypse – about their own families, school, and their first existential and cultural experiences. The mythology of youth is juxtaposed with historical catastrophe. In the poetry of Lublin in the 1950s, Lublin appears as an internalized, personal space, while local themes take on universal significance due to their strong metaphysical and ethical content.
Keywords: Anna Kamieńska, Julia Hartwig, Lublin, poetry, late work, family, Union of Lublin Middle School in Lublin, memory, religion, metaphysics, ethics, genius loci, inner space, interwar period, Jews, World War II
Bożena Brzozowska: poems / 61
Mirosław Kulisz: short stories / 63
Anyżowy kogut (Aniseed Rooster)is a somewhat catastrophic story resulting from reflections on the effects of the pandemic, when we became suspicious and lost trust in each other. The protagonist longs for his wife’s love to remain unchanged, but for her, a husband who goes out to work every day, to the hotbed of viruses, becomes almost another pathogen, posing a threat to her and their daughter. Is it possible to restore the lost closeness? Przepióreczka (The Little Quail), on the other hand, is a story of jealousy, a tale of a certain love quadrangle whose finale unfolds during a hunt. Janek and Bogdan are two friends from a hunting club. In the world of hunters, clear, simple rules apply, and friendship is valued above all else. The situation becomes complicated when, after his wife leaves him, Hania, a photographer with a mesmerizing gaze, appears in Bogdan’s life. Not only Bogdan falls for her, but also Janek, and perhaps even his wife Adela. Who is hunting whom here?
Zuzanna Marciniak: poems / 81
Agata Łaska: As If You Took Him and Killed Him… Silence in Wiesław Myśliwski’s Plays / 83
A sketch devoted to the category of silence in the works of Wiesław Myśliwski. The basis for the discussion are primarily dramatic works: Złodziej (The Thief), Klucznik (The Keyholder), Drzewo (The Tree) and Requiem dla gospodyni (Requiem for a Housewife), published in a single edition by Znak in 2023. The author, arguing that silence plays a role in Myśliwski’s works that is no less important than words, refers to the philosophical concepts of Martin Heidegger and Ludwig Wittgenstein. She also quotes the writer himself, who repeatedly addressed the subject of language as a tool of communication and a material for literature in numerous interviews and discussions.
Keywords: Wiesław Myśliwski, silence, dramas, philosophy, Martin Heidegger, Ludwig Wittgenstein, language, speech, writing, literature
Maria Duszka: miniatures / 90
Short, anecdotal accounts of minor scenes from life, depicting everyday life with humour, warmth and distance. The author recalls family situations, conversations with children, chance encounters, social observations and memories – all based on simple but accurately captured moments. At the center is the human being with their habits, surprising logic and wisdom. The stories are linked by a light, ironic tone and a warm view of the world, in which comedy is mixed with reflection on everyday life.
Beata Kurek: poems / 92
REVIEWS
Not only analytically…
Józef Franciszek Fert: The Black Rose from under the London Bridge [Wacław Iwaniuk, Krystyna and Czesław Bednarczykowie „Korespondencja” (“Correspondence”)]; Jerzy Sikora: Miłosz by Lizakowski [„Czesław Miłosz w Ameryce. Na podstawie wspomnień i fotografii Adama Lizakowskiego” (“Czesław Miłosz in America: Based on the Memoirs and Photographs by Adam Lizakowski”)]; Dominika Łarionow: An Attempt at a Monograph [Zbigniew Taranienko „Przekaz. O teatrze Leszka Mądzika” (“Transmission: On the Theatre of Leszek Mądzik”)]; Ewa Dunaj: Back to the Future [Jacek Łukasiewicz „Krok i rytm. Wybór szkiców” (“Step and Rhythm: A Selection of Essays”)]; Karol Alichnowicz: Poetic Geography [Zbigniew Chojnowski „Prowincjusze, tubylcy i bywalcy” (“Provincials, Natives and Regulars”)]; Wacław Oszajca: For the Sake of Universitas [„O niebo lepiej. Z ks. prof. Antonim Dębińskim nie tylko o KUL-u rozmawia Gabriela Wilczyńska” (“Way Better: Gabriela Wilczyńska in Conversation with Rev. Prof. Antoni Dębiński – Not Only About KUL”)] / 94
Discussions of recently published scholarly, essayistic, and documentary books, seen against the background of the most significant phenomena of contemporary culture.
Poets, poets…
Paweł Mackiewicz: The Poet Remembers (As Gently as He Can) [Bohdan Zadura „Zmiana czasu” (“Time Change”)]; Urszula M. Benka: I Am a Child of the Touchscreen [Sara Akram „karm” (“feed”)]; Bartosz Suwiński: Lisbon Impressions [Martyna Rogacka „Alfama” (“Alfama”)]; Zbigniew Chojnowski: From “Dying Europe” to “Carefree Joy” [János Térey „Przyszłość miodu” (“The Future of Honey”)]; Stefan Jurkowski: Anxiety, Suffering, Hope [Urszula Gierszon „Pokoje luster”, „Niebo we mnie daleko” (“Rooms of Mirrors”; “The Sky Within Me Is Far Away”)]; Ewa Dunaj: I Am the Sower and the Seed, the Harvest and the Soil [Rafał Rutkowski „siej czas” (“Sow Time”)] / 115
Reviews of the latest poetry books written by literary scholars and critics. They contain detailed analyses and characterize the most prominent contemporary literary currents and phenomena.
DUETS
Grzegorz Jankowicz: Not to Transfigure. “I am Staying” by Wacław Oszajca / 133
Aneta Wysocka: Knowledge and Ignorance / 135
A comparison of two literary critiques devoted to a selected book published recently. The clash of different points of view and personal assessments allows us to emphasize the multidimensionality of the publication in question and initiate a discussion about its significance and value.
ART
Lechosław Lameński: The Sculptural World of Antoni Janusz Pastwa / 138
Antoni Janusz Pastwa (born 1944) is one of the most interesting contemporary Polish sculptors of the older generation. A student of Marian Wnuk and Antoni Słonina at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, he spent his entire professional and teaching career (1974-2019) at his alma mater. He is known to many Poles for his collaboration with Adam Myjak on the magnificent quadriga with Apollo adorning the front façade of the classicist Grand Theatre in Warsaw. He expresses himself most readily by creating original, decidedly synthetic series of sculptures carved in various types of stone and marble and constructed from wood. Their main theme is man (Torsy – the Torsos series), but especially animals (Cienie – the Shadows series). However, while in the case of stone sculptures the artist’s work consists mainly in creatively removing the “excess” material, he composes wooden sculptures from the inside out, so to speak, applying small elements of successive layers until the desired final effect is achieved, with an interesting texture and varied form.
Keywords: Antoni Janusz Pastwa, Apollo’s quadriga, sculpture, Torsos, Shadows, Faces series, wood, stone, bronze, plaster, artificial stone, monumental art, abstraction, expression, chiaroscuro, symbolism, synthetic form, intuitive creation
FILM
Wiesława Turżańska: Through the Eyes of the Master. Andrzej Wajda on Himself and Poland / 150
Text inspired by reading the four-volume edition ofAndrzej Wajda’s Notesy. 1942-2016 (Notes. 1942-2016). The eminent director and creator of the Polish Film School is portrayed primarily as a man of cinema and theatre, although his notes also reveal other forms of his social activity, and since the 1990s – his political engagement as well. Intimate and family matters were generally omitted from the notes; for example, the subject of his father, who was murdered by the NKVD in Kharkiv, was not addressed until the late 1980s. Wajda very quickly achieved a high position among directors not only in Poland but also throughout Europe. The text also devotes a lot of space to his struggles with censorship and unrealized projects. The 1980s were a particularly difficult period, when, due to his support for Lech Wałęsa, the artist was prevented from making films in Poland. After the political transformation, however, the perfectionist artist was painfully affected by the waning interest in his films and referred to many new artistic events with sarcasm. Another of Wajda’s achievements, which he also valued highly, was the creation of the Manggha Museum of Japanese Art and Technology. It was opened in Krakow thanks to the money the director received as a winner of the Kyoto Prize.
Keywords: Andrzej Wajda, diary writing, cinema, film, Polish People’s Republic (PRL), politics, censorship, opposition, Polish film school, visual arts, Feliks Jasieński “Manggha”, Józef Czapski, World War II, Katyń
PHOTOGRAPHY
Jacek Zalewski: Between Opening and Closing. On Bolesław Lutosławski’s “Encounters” / 158
In his book-album Spotkania (Encounters), photographer Bolesław Lutosławski presented over eighty portraits of people from the world of culture and science. These works provoke reflection on the dual nature of photography: opening and closing. According to the author of the text, the originality of Lutosławski’s photographs lies, among other things, in the fact that they elude simple oppositions: they are capable of opening up new meanings (often beyond the photographer’s control), but they are also carriers of a meaning designed by the artist, which cannot be developed, supplemented or commented on. These are complete works.
Keywords: photography, Bolesław Lutosławski, portrait, violence and discretion, meaning, dialectics
MEMORIES
Michał F. Sokołowski: Through the Prism of a Sonnet. (An Essay in Four Parts) / 166
A memoir dedicated to the poet Sławomir Rudnicki. The pretext for reflection is a photograph of the author, who died in 2021, which in its form refers to the structure of a sonnet – a literary genre particularly close to his heart. The characteristic layout of stanzas, with “fissures” of white space between them, adhering to a strictly defined pattern, appears in the light of the essay as a symbol of the unknowability of inner being. What is conventional and outward can be perceived only as temporary and immediate, revealing the essential indeterminacy of persons and things – their peculiar absence. In this context, Rudnicki’s sonnet writing – and the photograph included – become a testimony to the search for a form that is profound though incomplete; one that does not aim to pin down or expose a given existence, but allows for the multiplicity and richness of partial manifestations of being.
Keywords: Sławomir Rudnicki, sonnet, poetry, form, memories
SOURCES AND INFLOWS
Grzegorz Władysław Wróblewski: Cultivating Tradition. The Folkowisko Borderland Culture Festival / 168
The Folkowisko Borderland Culture Festival takes place every year in Gorajec in the Podkarpacie region. Its origins date back to informal meetings of folk culture enthusiasts in 2008-2010, and the first official edition took place in 2011. The event is organised by the Folkowisko Borderland Culture Association, and each edition has a different theme – in 2025, it was Korzenie (Roots). The festival covers several main programme areas: Music Stage, Word Stage, Gorajec Folk University, Ecology and Community. Folkowisko has become a symbol of nurturing borderland traditions, combining art, history, nature and modern forms of cultural participation. Every year, it transforms the small village of Gorajec into a vibrant centre of Polish folk culture.
POSTCARD FROM THE ISLAND
Grażyna Lutosławska: Catalogue / 174
CANADIAN NOTEBOOK
Marek Kusiba: Józef Wittlin Foresaw Everything / 178
FILM TASTINGS
Jacek Dąbała: Sensational TV Series Heals Broken Law / 181
NOTES
Konrad Sutarski: Hungarian Poetry in Poland from World War II to the Present Day in the Light of Published Anthologies / 182
Tomasz Netczuk: A Forgotten Concept – The Neutralisation of Central And Eastern Europe / 185
Waldemar Michalski: The Poetic Return of Zbigniew Jerzyna / 187
Information about well-known artists and cultural phenomena, as well as discussions of the most interesting initiatives, events and publications from the past few months.
Notes about the authors / 190
