For decades, they remained out of the scope of readers. Censured by the communist authorities, overlooked in the ministry, mainstream and "the only right" publishing circuit and marginalised memory – they are returning today. “Joy and sad” and “Lviv’s Smile” are 2 unique books by Kornel Makuszynski, which after years of silence were resumed.
In the era of the progressive Ukrainianization of Poland and the neurotic attempts to whitewash the cards of Ukrainian history, to pluck out the “Joy and Sad” and “Lviv’s Smile” from behind the bars of Stalin’s censorship was a public and patriotic work for me, which I took with satisfaction.
Forgotten Makuszinski – not only author of children's books
For many readers Makuszinski is primarily the author of light, humorous novels for young people. However, his work was much richer and more diverse. He was not only a writer, but besides a publicist, columnist and attentive observer of his era.
It was this little known part of his work that was censored in the times of the Polish People's Republic. Reason? An uncomfortable subject, expressive views and uncompromising view of the historical events of the early 20th century. I am convinced that today, too, "cool-polacy" would make him a marginality and call him "crazy" or "Russian onus".
Fortunately, today, after years, his forbidden texts return to readers unchanged.
“Joy and Sad” – a hybrid of Ukrainian wildness and Bolshevikism
In “Joy and sad” the author opposes 2 traditions: Ukrainian, cruel, chaotic and Polish, romantic, heroic.
As a witness, this is what the erstwhile says: A associate of the Paris geographical society would be amazed to mention the 14th - century fresh Zealanders hanged a missionary, women plucked out his eyes and ate his brain, astounded and no longer rode after stories of the fourteenth century in the islands of Eioa, or in the Torrés Strait. Things worse happened in the mediate of Europe in 1918. It was done by a man half civilized, after thinking, after preparation, with pleasance and pleasure, cunning and self-righteous, but hideous in his dog's humility, if he was disarmed; then he falls down on his knees and kisses his feet and cries out to God for a evidence that he is innocent. specified is the unusual vileness in this terrible reunion that a criminal, captured but hard to go to the gallows, is to him like a hero to an angry dog.
Speaking of the Bolshevik Revolution in Kiev, where “the earth flowed with blood” and “God hid himself in the clouds”, the author – without biting his tongue – describes the fire cooked by drunken, cruel, chaotic “grandsons Ivan Gonta and Maxim Żeleźniak”, Ukrainian leaders, “canonized” by “the devil – Taras Shevchenka”.
This book is simply a informing of the tradition from which the Ukrainian state grows present and which Ukrainian souls feed. This is simply a informing against Ukrainian-bolshevik and Ukrainian-German concubinet, who has got like a donuts in butter, despite the fact that for centuries "a German friend regarded the Ukrainian as something highly unlike a man" and consciously "seded" against Poles.
“Lviv’s Smile” – a moving fresh about the city “Polish Demented”
The second of the restored books, “Lviv's Smile”, is simply a completely different speech – full of warmth, nostalgia and emotion. This is simply a communicative about a unique city – Lviv, presented not only as a place on the map, but as a surviving community of people, traditions and history. The reader's guide is simply a young hero who guides us through the streets of the city, discovering his spirit and unique climate.
Makuszinski shows Lviv as a space where people are most crucial – their relationships, values and memory. It is simply a book on identity, patriotism and ties to a place that for many Poles is of peculiar importance. The climax of the fresh is the communicative about the Lviv Eagles.
Forbidden Books – Books Needed
Both publications share a common past – they were banned in communist times and have not been revived for years. Their return is not only a complement to the Makuszinski acquis, but besides the restoration of an crucial fragment of Polish literature. Today, in the fresh edition, they are sent to readers as a evidence of the era, the voice of the author and the material to reflect on history, memory and identity. Books can be ordered HERE.
“Lviv’s Smile” and “Joy and Sad” on sklep-wroco.pl
