In 1939–1989 it was common for an aspiring writer to make an entry into the literary scene through a literary magazine. This article revisits the problem by distinguishing two categories of literary magazines, those produced for the young from those by the young. The latter were launched through the initiative of young writers seeking a platform of their own, i.e. the impulse for the creation of such periodicals came from the literary community itself. The article also draws on Professor Kazimierz Wyka’s periodization of literature on the basis of a pair of criteria, the historical and the generational (literary groups and generations). They are an important analytical tool in the mapping of generational change in the literary history of Poland in 1945–1989.

Literary periodicals promoting young writers played a major role in the formation of a distinct generational consciousness during the occupation and in the post-war period. They included Sztuka i Naród [Art and the Nation] (1942–1944), Walka [Combat] and Inaczej [Contrarily] (1945), Pokolenie [ The Generation] (1946–1947), Nurt [The Current] (1947), Po prostu [ Plain and Simple] (1949–1955), Wyboje [ Bumps] (1956–1957), Zebra (1957–1958), Orientacja (1965–1971) and Nowy Wyraz [New Expression] (1972–1981). The young writers’ literary magazines were the product of the shifting political environment and generational change.

In France, as well as in other countries of the French language, the relationship between the Bible and literature mirrors the dilemma facing the European culture, a culture founded on the Greek and Roman civilization, when it was becoming Christianized. The Christians in the French speaking Europe confront the problem of 'double-fidelity': either to the Bible as the Truth, or to the Greek and Roman culture representing Art. Two trends can be observed. Some would try to prove the artistic superiority of the Bible over pagan literature. Others would attempt to show that even in that kind of non-Christian literature it is possible to observe the presence of supernatural truth. The dilemma abates and loses its importance starting with the XVIII century when literature as such emancipates and becomes an autonomous reality of esthetic character.

Unsurprisingly, in the Middle Ages, the Bible constitutes the crucial source of inspiration for French literature. Authors compose paraphrases and long poems based on Biblical motifs. There appear mystery plays, with their performance often spread over a number of days. In the XVI century, both Catholics and Protestants produce a number of translations of the Holy Scriptures. There appear poetic pa- raphrases of psalms, and also extensive epic poems adopting various Biblical threads. In the XVII century, the genre of poetic meditation appears in addition to the genres already mentioned. On the other hand, the kind of drama based on Biblical themes is in retreat; it finds refuge in the academic theater, when it becomes superseded by works of the classicist character. In the beginning of the XVIII cen- tury, some scholars try to demonstrate the religious character of the works of Antiquity.

Together with the rationalism of Enlightenment, there appears a new attitude towards the Bible. In Voltaire, the Bible is an object of attacks and of ridicule. In Rousseau, it is a paradigm for the kind of discourse that is supposed to take its place. In Romanticism, we can observe the influence of the Bible over both Christian and non-Christian writers. In the works of the latter, the poet becomes a mystagogue interpreting the old myths. The Bible influences poetry; it serves as a stylistic and esthetic model, as a source of themes and motifs, and also as a point of reference for poems in the philosophy of history with the pantheistic or else progressist and utopic message, and for non-Christian apocrypha. In Symbolism, the Bible becomes completely despoiled of its religious value. It is being used in entirely atheistic and subjectivist ways. By the end of the XIX century, and in the first half of the XX century, we observe in France some kind of Catholic renaissance. The Bible is present in the prophetic works of Le'on Bloy. It becomes the object of the exegetical work of Claudel, of the poetry of Jouve and P. Emmanuel. In non-Christian writers in loses its function of the book of faith and becomes a book of myths.