Historia pewnego wymuszenia, czyli o kulisach drugiej edycji Dzienników Stefana Żeromskiego

Abstract

The article reveals some new facts connected with the publication of Stefan Żeromski's works in communist Poland. The source material for the analysis is a collection of heretofore unpublished letters between publishers and editors of Stefan Żeromski's literary and journalistic output: Stanisław Pigoń, Jerzy Kądziela, Wacław Borowy, Stanisław Adamczewski and Wanda Jedlicka. The close study of the letters shows the circumstances of suspending work on the second edition of Żeromski's Journals, which was to be the final stage in the publication of the author's Collected Works edited by Stanisław Pigoń. The major reason for the delay was the problem with communist censorship, however not with regards to Żeromski's book but his journalism. Stanisław Pigoń agreed to help edit the second edition of Żeromski's Journals under the condition that the author's journalistic output would be allowed to be published first. The problem was that much of Żeromski's journalism was assessed by communist censorship as politically incorrect.