Józef Czechowicz's letter to Stanisław Czernik

In his letter, Józef Czechowicz informs about the end of his cooperation with "Zet"- a magazine in which he had run Kolumna poetów [The Poets' Column], Świat słowiański [The Slavic World], and Kronika lubelską [The Lublin Chronicle] in 1932-1934. The magazine, edited by Jerzy Braun, was largely devoted to the so-called national philosophy and absolute philosophy of Józef Hoene-Wroński, messianism and the romantic tradition. Braun writes extensively about the circumstances in which the poet stopped cooperating with "Zet" in a sketch included in the collective publication Spotkania z Czechowiczem [Meetings with Czechowicz].

The author of Kamień [The Stone] also mentions the evening "The Avant-garde Poetry Rally on Warsaw", which took place on the 10th of March 1934. The extremely important, almost legendary, literary event was the last attempt at a joint appearance of the whole movement.

The letter mentions a literary magazine that was being "assembled". It was probably a magazine called "Zmowa", a monthly devoted to contemporary art, which the poets of Vilnius and Lublin wanted to edit together. Its editorial committee was to include J. Czechowicz, C. Miłosz and J. Zagórski. The paper never came into being, but an organisational sketch formulated by Czechowicz has survived. The author of w błyskawicy [in a lightning] believed that "Zmowa" would become the voice of the Second Avant-garde and, at the same time, a natural counterbalance to the hated Skamander tradition. The design of the magazine testifies to the great ambitions and creative vigour of the editor, who did not forget, at the same time, that "humour at work should equal the seriousness of its fruits". That is why he gave all the members of the editorial committee dignities referring to freemasonry. He gave Miłosz the Masonic title of Frater Terrible, reserving, however, the most significant title for himself: King of Lithuania, Emperor of the Encyclopedia.

The poet also informs Czernik about his leadership role in the vanguard. Although it is true that in the 1930s, Czechowicz was an animator of literary life in Warsaw, certain information included in the letter should be approached with distance. As Tadeusz Kłak writes: "the news about Przyboś's 'subordination' should be received with a large dose of scepticism. The author of Równanie serca [The Equation of the Heart] was not a poet who needed, or even could submit to anyone. Czechowicz, on the other hand, had such a sense of humour that he embraced his "leadership" with it".