Kariera literacka Jerzego Putramenta. O wpływie polityki na pozycję pisarza w PRL

Abstract

Jerzy Putrament in the People's Republic of Poland was a symbol of a party writer. What determined his political position were the personal relationships with dignitaries he had and the ability to position himself as a negotiator between writers and the leadership of the party. He would defend the interest of the Polish United Workers Party among the writers and at the same time strive to protect material interests of the literary community before the party officials. Putrament was aIso one of the few writers who would write contemporary political novels whose main characters were communists. No-one could accuse him of being extremely imaginative as a writer, he wrote about what he knew from his personal experience. As a witness to the era - he would distort undeniable facts. However, that did not protect him from getting into trouble arising from the fact that he wrote about his contemporaries. The paradox was that a writer-communist would - unknowingly - write novels exposing the shameful workings of power. Those novels undermined confidence in his political instinct, weakened his standing with the authorities but by the end of his days - and the rule of communism in Poland - he kept his place the pantheon of contemporary writers.