Routine But Ribald. Intimacy in Stefan Żeromski’s Journals

Stefan Żeromski’s Journals concern mostly matters of intellectual (book, theatre, and exhibition reviews, writing techniques) and personal character, with the latter including some very intimate material. Żeromski was an exhibitionist in his writing. He described his autoerotic practices, his visits to brothels, details of sexual relationships with his mistresses, as well as some personal problems of his friends and acquaintances. The present analysis of the writer’s Journals focuses on how Żeromski tended to write about his intimate life, what matters and to what extent were treated as taboo by the author himself, by people from his closest circle, by readers of the manuscript version of his Journals, and finally, by editors and publishers of two 20th-century editions of his work. Taking this perspective, the close reading of Żeromski’s Journals will thus concentrate on issues such as private life, taboo, censorship and self-censorship.