WA¯YK Adam - Poem for adults and other poems. 1st ed.

WAŻYK Adam - Poem for adults and other poems. Warsaw 1956; PIW. 16d, pp. 39, [1]. pamphlet.
Spine covered with cloth, discoloration and minor staining of covers, corner of front cover creased, internally good condition. First book edition of "Poem for Adults." It was first printed in "Nowa Kultura" (issue of August 21, 1955), which resulted in the dismissal of P. Hoffman from the position of editor-in-chief. The publication of the text, both in the press and in the book, provoked extremely sharp attacks and lively polemics. Among other things, it was written: "unmasking hysteria" (R. Czeszko), "heroic hysteria" (J. Strzelecki), "the poem has an anti-party pronouncement" (S. Zolkiewski), "Ważyk as if he were 18 years old and fell into his first universal doubt" (J. Putrament) (quoted by M. Fik "Polish Culture after Yalta", London 1989). The author recalled years later: "Attempts were made to combat the 'Adult Poem' [...]. Activist meetings were held, lecturers were sent to cultural institutions. Strange things were happening. People condemning my poem, after a week or two turned into ardent defenders [...]. A small collection prepared in PIW [...] received a circulation of only five thousand, which was distributed in a few hours. Before that, the finished volume was held for several weeks unknown where [...]. Two years before that [i.e., in 1954] there was a change in cultural policy [...] and 'Poem for Adults' was formally confiscated. The text was not allowed to be quoted even in IBL works on versification. The title was not allowed to be mentioned in the press" ("Polityka," No. 1/1981). "The career that this poem has made in the opinion of almost the world has no parallel in our lyricism of the past two decades" (R. Matuszewski, "Rocznik Lit." 1956). One of the most important volumes of Polish postwar poetry.