Zdzisław Najder
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Zdzisław Najder (; 31 October 1930 – 15 February 2021) was a Polish literary historian, critic, and political activist. He was primarily known for his studies on
Joseph Conrad Joseph Conrad (born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, ; 3 December 1857 – 3 August 1924) was a Poles in the United Kingdom#19th century, Polish-British novelist and story writer. He is regarded as one of the greatest writers in the Eng ...
, for his periods of service as political adviser to
Lech Wałęsa Lech Wałęsa (; ; born 29 September 1943) is a Polish statesman, dissident, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate who served as the president of Poland between 1990 and 1995. After winning the 1990 Polish presidential election, 1990 election, Wałę ...
and Jan Olszewski, and for having served as chief of the Polish-language section of
Radio Free Europe Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a media organization broadcasting news and analyses in 27 languages to 23 countries across Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the Middle East. Headquartered in Prague since 1995, RFE/RL ...
. Educated in Poland and England, Najder had worked as a professor in Poland and abroad before his exile from Poland in 1981. During most of that exile, he worked for Radio Free Europe. Sentenced to death in absentia in his native land, he did not return to Poland until the overthrow of its communist regime, whereupon he became an active political adviser. Najder's 1983 biography of Conrad, substantially revised in 2007, is regarded as a definitive work in Conrad scholarship. He was married to the Polish-British literary translator, Halina Carroll-Najder.


Life


Early life

Born in Warsaw, Poland, on 31 October 1930, Najder studied at Warsaw University (1949–1954) and at
St Antony's College, Oxford St Antony's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1950 as the result of the gift of French merchant Sir Antonin Besse of Aden, St Antony's specialises in international relations, economics, politic ...
(1959–1969), earning doctoral degrees in philosophy and Polish literature. He added a second doctoral degree in Polish literature in Poland in 1978. Najder taught at Warsaw University as a professor of literature, co-edited the Polish monthly literary journal ''
Twórczość ''Twórczość'' (, Creativity, or Creative Output) is a Polish monthly literary journal, first published in 1945. Since 1 April 2000, ''Twórczość'' has been published by the state-funded Book Institute (Instytut Książki).Polish Academy of Sciences The Polish Academy of Sciences (, PAN) is a Polish state-sponsored institution of higher learning. Headquartered in Warsaw, it is responsible for spearheading the development of science across the country by a society of distinguished scholars a ...
' Institute for Literary Studies.


Exile

When martial law was declared in Poland on 13 December 1981, Najder was a visiting scholar at
Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...
. Choosing not to return to his native land, he took a position in Germany with
Radio Free Europe Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a media organization broadcasting news and analyses in 27 languages to 23 countries across Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the Middle East. Headquartered in Prague since 1995, RFE/RL ...
(RFE), becoming chief of its Polish-language section in April 1982. In response, the Polish government under the leadership of
Wojciech Jaruzelski Wojciech Witold Jaruzelski ( ; ; 6 July 1923 – 25 May 2014) was a Polish military general, politician and ''de facto'' leader of the Polish People's Republic from 1981 until 1989. He was the First Secretary of the Polish United Workers' Party ...
condemned him to death ''
in absentia ''In Absentia'' is the seventh studio album by British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree, first released on 24 September 2002. The album marked several changes for the band, with it being the first with new drummer Gavin Harrison and the f ...
'', accusing Najder of spying for United States intelligence services. Two years later, he was stripped of his Polish citizenship. The first citizen of the
Eastern Bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc (Combloc), the Socialist Bloc, the Workers Bloc, and the Soviet Bloc, was an unofficial coalition of communist states of Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America that were a ...
recruited for such an RFE role, Najder influenced RFE to more sharply criticize Poland's communist regime, and launched a program that envisioned the country without communism: "The Poland that Could Be". Najder remained with RFE until 1987.


Conrad scholarship

Najder's interest in Polish-born author Joseph Conrad long predates his exile; in 1998, Barry Langford for ''
Times Higher Education ''Times Higher Education'' (''THE''), formerly ''The Times Higher Education Supplement'' (''The THES''), is a British magazine reporting specifically on news and issues related to higher education. Ownership TPG Capital acquired TSL Education ...
'' (''THE'') described it as "four decades of biographical and critical research". In 1983, Najder published a definitive biography of Conrad, ''Joseph Conrad: A Chronicle'' (Smithmark), which drew comparisons of the two by literary critic
Edward Said Edward Wadie Said (1 November 1935 – 24 September 2003) was a Palestinian-American academic, literary critic, and political activist. As a professor of literature at Columbia University, he was among the founders of Postcolonialism, post-co ...
: "Exile, the strong affinity with French and British culture, the sense of Poland as a place lost to Russian power, the remorseless effort to keep working and writing in environments less than perfect – these things bind Mr. Najder to Conrad…." Said went on to laud the book, asserting that "It is correct, I think, to say that what we get in it is the first, almost rigidly antinomian portrait we have had of him, with the discrepancies and contradictions of fact, character and esthetic laid out starkly, the impossibilities of situation left unadorned, the inexplicable vagaries of career and temperament encouraged to speak for themselves more powerfully than ever before." The book became, according to Richard Hand in ''THE'', "instantly a key work in Conrad studies", while Najder himself earned renown as a pre-eminent Conrad scholar. In addition to other publications on Conrad, in 2007 Najder rewrote ''Joseph Conrad: A Chronicle'', issued as ''Joseph Conrad: A Life'' (Camden House). The rewrite included substantial new content reflecting Najder's continued research into Conrad's biography.


Repatriation

In 1989 Poland's communist government was voted out of power, and the
Solidarity Solidarity or solidarism is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. True solidarity means moving beyond individual identities and single issue politics ...
trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...
's
Tadeusz Mazowiecki Tadeusz Mazowiecki (; 18 April 1927 – 28 October 2013) was a Polish author, journalist, philanthropist and politician, formerly one of the leaders of the Solidarity movement, and the first non-communist Polish prime minister since 1946, hav ...
was appointed
Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
. Najder's conviction for treason and espionage was overturned. Najder returned to his homeland, serving as a key adviser to Lech Wałęsa during his
presidency A presidency is an administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. Although often the executive branch of government, and often personified b ...
(1990–95) and a senior adviser to Jan Olszewski during his term as prime minister (1991–92). In 1992 he became central to a controversy in Poland when Jerzy Urban published in the
left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...
Polish weekly tabloid magazine '' NIE'' a document purportedly written by Najder in 1958, stating that he would cooperate with the Communist secret police. Urban was accused and convicted of violating Poland's state secrets act. Najder denied ever having worked with the police, though he admitted that they had contacted him. Because Poland never experienced a full
lustration Lustration in Central and Eastern Europe is the official public procedure of scrutinizing a public official or a candidate for public office in terms of their history as a witting confidential collaborator (informant) of relevant former commun ...
process as did Germany, for instance, it is often the case that persons accused of having cooperated with the secret police (a paid, voluntary activity) deny it. However, in 2005 it was finally revealed that Najder had indeed worked for the secret police, under the code name "''Zapalniczka''" (Polish for " igarettelighter"). In addition to his political activities in Poland, Najder also returned to Polish academia, taking a
University of Opole The University of Opole () is a public university in the city of Opole. It was founded in 1994 from a merger of two parallel educational institutions. The university has 17,500 students completing 32 academic majors and 53 specializations. The ...
position as a professor of English literature. In 2009 Najder was awarded by the Committee for French-German-Polish Cooperation (Weimar Triangle) - together with Ambassador Stéphane Hessel (France) and Countess Freya von Moltke (Germany) - with the Adam Mickiewicz Prize for merits in the French-German-Polish reconciliation. Laudatio: Professor Rita Suessmuth, former President of the German Bundestag.Committee for French-German-Polish Cooperation


Select bibliography

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Najder, Zdzislaw 1930 births 2021 deaths Polish male writers Polish biographers Polish male non-fiction writers Writers from Warsaw People sentenced to death in absentia Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty people Polish radio journalists University of Warsaw alumni Alumni of St Antony's College, Oxford Academic staff of the University of Warsaw Polish expatriates in England Polish expatriates in Germany People associated with Kultura (magazine)