Awangarda we wspomnieniach twórców nowoczesnych

This article is devoted to the analysis of the statements by avant-garde writers formulatedyears later, after 1956, and related to political, social and artistic transformations. It analyses theforms of expression (essays, memories, analyses, interpretative sketches, etc.) employed by formeravant-garde authors. The research material consists of the memories of Julian Przyboś, AnatolStern, Adam Ważyk and Aleksander Wat. What is significant is the analysis of the narrative strategyadopted by each of these authors as well as the position they gained after 1945 and, then again,after October 1956. This article focuses mainly on presenting the problematic aesthetic changesand indicates that, in this context, the attitude of avant-garde writers to neo-avant-garde art, to thenew literary trends emerging after the Second World War, is particularly important. The central issueexamined is the formulation of the concept of the avant-garde and its definition on Polish soil.The poets’ statements presented show concern for the image of the Polish avant-garde as well as theimportance of the competition for historical narratives. This is connected with the individual perceptionof the notion of the avant-garde. Some of the authors, for instance Julian Przyboś, consideredthe program and the theoretical nuances specified a hundred years ago very significant, whilethe others put great emphasis on the synthetic orientation which viewed the avant-garde as a wholeset of heterogeneous trends. It should be observed that there seems to be a significant difference ofopinion between Adam Ważyk and Aleksander Wat. The former sees the avant-garde in the contextof modernism and its changes, whereas the latter shows the degree to which twentieth-century artresulted from the innovativeness of futurists.