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Totalitarianism in
Central-Eastern Europe might be a thing of the past, yet that 50 years'
experience left an indelible mark on the societies, culture and
consciousness of the region. it is safe to say that virtually all of the
poetry presented in this course had been influenced by the system; even
the choice of not writing about political matters was political - as
brilliantly shown in Wislawa Szymborska's already famous poem Children
of our age of 1986:
Even when you take to the woods,
you're taking political steps
on political grounds.
This section presents a definition of
totalitarianism; its various phases in Poland's
history; an incisive diagnosis by
one of the system's victims/victors; and a short post-mortem. |
