Paradoksy paryskiej „Kultury”. Styl i tradycje myślenia politycznego. Wyd. 3. zm. i uzup.
Paradoxes of Parisian “Kultura”. The Style and Traditions of Political Thinking in the Polish Exile Monthly “Kultura”

Author(s): Janusz Korek
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, Politics, Social Sciences, Language and Literature Studies, Studies of Literature, Political Theory, Sociology
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego
Keywords: Kultura; Political Thinking
Summary/Abstract: The aim of the book is to analyze the political conceptions of the monthly“Kultura” in the period since its creation antil 1980. The magazine, whichstarted coming out in 1947 in Italy, was created by expatriate Poles, who afterthe Yalta Agreements chose to stay in the West. The editorial board soonmoved to France where on the outskirts of Paris in the small town of Maisons-Laffitte the monthly journal has been edited ever since. Thanks to the originalprofile of the magazine and its political philosophy it has managed to grouparound itself numerous outstanding Polish writers and commentators, boththose active in the emigré communities and those living in Poland. AlsoWestern authors as well as writers and commentators from other countries inCentral and Eastern Europe published their texts on the magazine’s pages.In spite of “Kultura’s” illustrious successes and unique accomplishments,earlier research on its history has hot moved beyond its initial stage. Inpublications devoted to the phenomenon of “Kultura” we may encountercontradictory ideological qualifications and opinions on the magazine’spolitical profile. This is a consequence of the fact that there is a painful lackof source materials and books analyzing the accomplishments of “Kultura”from a longterm perspective. This book aims to fill out this gap by analyzinga period of over thirty years in the history of the periodical. An attempt ismade to divide this history into periods on the basis of ideological and politicalcriteria. A further aim is to define the style of political thinking dominant inthe materials published in the periodical and to characterize it against thebackground of earlier political debates in pre-war Poland. The adopteddiachronic perspective and the wide spectrum of analyzed phenomena willprovide the basis for an assessment of which conceptions and ideologicalelements and values were constantly present in the political platform of theeditors and which made only a temporary appearance in connection with thepolitical sympathies of the periodical or the changing circumstances on theworld scene. It should be added that this is the first book on the subject totruly cover the comprehensive research material and to analyze the politicaltrends in “Kultura” from a long-term perspective.The main thesis of the book may be formulated(excerpt from the summary)

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