%0 Journal Article
%T Prison Letters in Light of Censorship. A Reconnaissance
%A Banasik, Grzegorz
%J Konteksty Kultury
%V 2018
%R 10.4467/23531991KK.18.046.10588
%N Volume 15 Issue 4
%P 514-531
%K prison letters, literature of personal documents, democratic opposition, Polish People’s Republic, censorship
%@ 2083-7658
%D 2019
%U https://ejournals.eu/en/journal/konteksty-kultury/article/list-wiezienny-w-swietle-rygorow-cenzury-rekonesans
%X This article is a preliminary survey of the prison epistolography of political prisoners from the time of the Polish People’s Republic. By analysing published prison letters of Czesław Bielecki, Gaja and Jacek Kuroń, as well as letters addressed to Izabela Jarosińska the author elucidates the influence of censorship on the form and subject matter of prison correspondence. Stanisław Barańczak’s typology of limitations imposed on the prison letter by censorship, as well as Marta Fik’s notion of the censor as co-author, constitute a crucial reference point for the current analysis. The article also examines the frequency of prison communication, the material aspect (appearance) of the letter, its volume, and the restrictions in choosing the addressee; an attempt is also made to delimit the “safe” thematic boundaries, which the imprisoned could navigate in their epistolary writings. Finally, a characteristic is provided of the specific strategies adopted in the fight with censorship, particularly focusing on the methods of outsmarting the censor, such as coding information by means of metaphors and allusions or through the use of Aesopian language.