Breakfast with the censor. A chosen aspect of the edition of dramas by Janusz Krasiński

Abstract

The article discusses a chosen aspect of the edition of Janusz Krasiński’s dramas (Krzak gorejący. Dramaty, Wydawnictwo IBL 2013), i.e. censorial interference in a play entitled Śniadanie u Desdemony. The biography of the writer (who was imprisoned during the Stalin period) and the subject matter of the work – the release of two prisoners under the amnesty – enabled to suspect that the plans of publishing the drama (first edition: 1971) could particularly interest Główny Urząd Kontroli Prasy, Publikacji i Widowisk.

The attempts to find in Archiwum Akt Nowych a censorial copy or information about the censorial interference in the planned publication were futile. The comparison of editions with typescripts kept in the author’s house showed significant differences in the text only in two cases: in rephrasing the words “Stalinist method” and adding the fragment in which the protagonist informs about the arrest of a dishonest prosecutor. In the typescript placed in Muzeum Literatury im. Adama Mickiewicza in Warsaw, the writer noted that the form of the play was influenced by his conversation with a censor on the subject of performing the play at the Ludowy Teatr in Warsaw (premiere: 1971).

Krasiński noted that the fragment about the prosecutor was created under the influence of the author’s visit to the office in Mysia street. However, giving the typescript to the museum in 1990s, he did not decide to cross out that part of his play; therefore, the writer expressed his intention. The typescript from Muzeum Literatury included the phrase “Stalinist method”, as opposed to the first printing, in which one can see the words “despotic method”, or the radio version of the play, in which “Asian method” appears. No additional information that could indicate the interference of the censor was given to the phrase. On the other hand, the censorial copy with a permit to performance at the Ludowy Theatre includes the change of “Stalinist method” into “unacceptable method”. The correction signals that the term “Stalinist” could be perceived as “unprintable”; however, it does not give an unambiguous answer whether “despotic method” appeared in the first edition after the direct interference of the censor who gave permission to publish the play or as a result of the writer’s self-censorship. The history of the phrase and its editing – as well as the presence of its original version in the typescript donated by the author to Muzeum Literatury – allowed to perceive the words “Stalinist method” as consistent with the author’s intention and reintroduce them in the edition from 2013 – the first selection of Krasiński’s dramas which was published after the dismantling of censorship in Poland.