THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE 'PRZYJACIOLKA' WEEKLY TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF MASS READERSHIP IN THE POSTWAR FORTY YEARS

The present article examines the contribution to the spread of readership, especially among women made between 1948 and 1989 by the 'Przyjaciolka' (Woman Friend) weekly - the most widely circulated Polish periodical that reached several million readers. The author analyses the origins of the periodical, which stemmed from the popular pre-war 'Moja Przyjaciolka' (My Woman Friend), its place on the press market and its formula. What was unique about the 'Przyjaciolka' phenomenon was that it was based on readers' letters; it was the readers who shaped the periodical's thematic scope. The author also analyses the process of popularising literature and shaping reading needs and habits among workers and people living in the countryside with little (or no) reading competences. Its essence was to treat literary or para-literary texts (the 'Joys and sorrows' column) instrumentally, using them to affirm the achievements of the new political system. The ideological stance was strengthened by frequent references made by the 'Przyjaciolka' authors to the tradition of the 19th-century didactic and educational trends in the popularisation of c ulture.