Przedwojenna pisarka w realiach wczesnego PRL-u. Przypadek Zofii Meisner

Abstract

In this article I want to take a look at the story of Zofia Meisner as a prose writer, as her biography seems to epitomise one of the typical life stories (models) of writers who started their careers before the war. In Meisenr's case, I mean the artist who strived to continue her fully-fledged and successful pre-war career in the new realities of the People's Republic of Poland, at the same time trying to maintain its pre-war artistic character. I have devoted my special attention to The Defenders of Westerplatte [Obrońcy Westetplatte]. The editorial ups and downs of this novel were in fact typical of 'the shelved ones' [półkowniki'l that is the banned books prohibited from publishing throughout the entire Stalinist period. The reason for that was the subject of the novel as well as the author's past. In consequence, the book could have been published only later on during the political thaw. Some light is shed on the particulars of the case of the book awaiting for almost a decade to be released by archives and censors' opinions I managed to get to.