A poetical political history, Adam Czerniawski; Gombrowicz's Polish complex, Ursula Phillips; state of arrest - the short stories of Bruno Schulz, George Hyde; the prison of self - moral dilemmas in Andrzejewski's fiction, Stanislaw Eile; the document, polarities of its employment by Rialoszewski and Mackiewicz, Jerzy Jarzebski; Zbigniew Herbert and the notion of virtue, Stanislaw Baranczak; the telescopic world of "Jeu de Mirroirs" - rereading the works of Slawomir Mrozek, Helene Wlodarczyk; Mysliwski's "The Palace" - a translator's introduction, Ursula Phillips; Tadeusz Konwicki - a personal view, George Hyde; at the end of the century, Aleksander Fiut; between absurdity and apocalypse - contemporary Poland in drama and fiction 1977-1987, Stanislaw Eile; internal exile in a free society? New poetry in Poland in the 1980s and early 1990s, Donald P.A. Pirie.

Serves as an introduction to contemporary Polish literature, developed through critical discussion of key problems and representative writers. It includes poetry, fiction and drama. Some essays are devoted to individual writers including, Milosz, Herbert, Gombrowicz, Schulz, Konwicki and Mrozek.