George Orwell and Communist Poland

George Orwell and Communist Poland is the first major account of George Orwell’s Polish reception during the Second World War and the Cold War era. It shows how Orwell, the epitome of a censored writer in the Soviet bloc, enjoyed a fulsome reception both outside and within communist Poland. It does so by developing a tripartite framework to study reception in conditions of state-imposed censorship, where three modes are likely to develop in response: émigré, official and clandestine.

The book thus brings to light Orwell’s overlooked relationships with Polish exiles who informed his work and looked upon him not only as a writer but also a personal friend and political ally. They eagerly translated his works and sought multinational promotion, even behind the Iron Curtain. The volume argues that Orwell also experienced official reception, smuggled into state-controlled culture in officially accepted ways. Additionally, communist censorship files reflect his reception within the state apparatus. Finally, the book examines passionate clandestine responses to Orwell's writing and myth in diaries and letters from as early as under Stalinism and explores Orwell’s popularity among underground publishing networks, which enabled his works to become bestsellers.

The book draws on sources in foreign languages and previously unseen material, including Orwell’s ‘lost’ letters to Teresa Jeleńska, the Polish translator of Animal Farm. The volume significantly broadens our understanding of Orwell’s life, work and legacy. It also contributes to discussions in English literature and comparative literature, literary exchanges, translation, reception and censorship and East European studies.

Krystyna Wieszczek is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Verona, Italy, and Columbia University, New York. She specialises in twentieth-century English literature and literary translation, reception and censorship. Her current project investigates empirical reception and the potential impact of literature on empowerment. Previously, she taught at the University of Bologna and the Ignatianum Academy in Krakow, and was a Visiting Scholar at the University of Milan. She holds a PhD in English from the University of Southampton, UK.