Carl Tighe lived in Poland for several years. After teaching first at Wroc aw University, he was one of the first appointments to the new University of Gdansk. In 1980-1, he worked at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow and helped run a small radio monitoring service for Solidarno. He is the author of Gdansk (Pluto Press, 1990) and Rejoice! and Other Stories (Cape, 1992).

'The Politics of Literature is described on the jacket as a 'study of Polish intellectual history' which 'analyses the complex interface between politics and literature under communism'. This book is actually much more, since in addition to the to the 'interface' it provides a detailed political history of the era, based on secondary sources, and also a comprehensive account of developments in Polish literature. Hence it could serve as a textbook on both literature and history/politics courses. Its mass of detail makes it also useful as a reference work.' Modern Language Review