God’s Playground. A History of Poland, Vol. 1. The Origins to 1795

(C. Jardin) #1
PREFACE TO ORIGINAL EDITION OF VOLUME I xiii

relevant time and historical context. The main lines of this exercise are summa-
rized in the course of Volume II, Chapter 21.
No work of this size and scope could be written without the assistance of
friends and colleagues. Many of the controversial passages have been read in
draft by specialists who were kind enough to offer the benefit of their critical
advice. In this regard, the author's thanks are due to the following: Robert Auty,
James Bolton, Maureen Burke, Jan Ciechanowski, Olga Crisp, Bohdan
Czaykowski, Daniel Davies, Tony French, Jozef Gierowski, Alexander
Gieysztor, Maria Gimbutas, Karol Gorski, Ian Hamilton, Gershon Hundert,
Waclaw Jedrzejewicz, Richard Jenkins, Dolek Juzwenko, Stefan Kieniewicz,
Antoni Maczak, Isabel de Madariaga, Boleslaw Mazur, David Morgan, Laszlo
Peter, Hugh Seton-Watson, Janusz Tomiak, Eva Travers, Angus Walker, and
Piotr Wandycz. The author's apologies are due to those whose advice has been
respectfully ignored.
The title of this study - 'God's Playground' - may raise some eyebrows. It is
one of several possible English translations of an old Polish phrase, Bote
Igrzysko which first appears in the 1580s as the title of Kochanowski's verse
Czlowiek-Boze Igrzysko (Mankind - Bauble of the Gods), where it is generally
thought to be a caique of Plautus's pila deorum.^6 Bote, meaning 'divine', refers
in a pagan context to the 'Gods', and in a Christian context to 'God'. Igrzysko,
being a diminutive noun derived from an old form of the verb igrac, 'to play',
can be variously translated as a 'bauble' or 'plaything' (with which one plays):
as a 'comedy' or 'drama' (that is played); as the 'actor', 'comedian', or 'jester'
(who does the playing); or else as 'the stage'or 'playground'(where things are
played). In this last sense, it recurs at several points in Polish literature, and can
be aptly used as an epithet for a country where fate has frequently played mis-
chievous tricks, and where a lively sense of humour has always formed an essen-
tial item of equipment in the national survival kit. It may not be unduly
scientific, but among readers in general, even among historians, it may conceiv-
ably recall Montesquieu's view that all forms of folly are permissible so long as
they are not expressed with solemnity. In Polish circles, the national history is
sometimes discussed in markedly reverential tones; and the 'high-priests' of
official ideology are not noted for their wit. Even so, it is hoped that a good-
humoured and open-minded approach is not necessarily lacking in respect, and
that it may find some understanding among those who have always viewed the
'jesters', from Stanczyk, Potocki, and Zablocki onwards, as skilled purveyors of
the Polish tradition.^7
In the twelve months since the text of the present volume was completed, lit-
tle has happened to disturb its main contentions. The political stalemate in
Poland stays unresolved. The food queues and the opposition groups still loom
large; but the authorities have done nothing to disperse either the one or the
other. The direr prophecies of open insurrection or of Soviet intervention have
not been fulfilled. In November 1978, the Sixtieth Anniversary of National
Independence was marked by a series of offical and unofficial celebrations. The

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