Kanonizacja Jana Pawła II 27 kwietnia 2014 roku była historycznym wydarzeniem dla Kościoła Katolickiego, lecz również dla… świata literatury. Zanim Jan Paweł II został papieżem, był nie tylko polskim księdzem o nazwisku Karol Wojtyła, ale i pisarzem. Jako stary papież napisał swój ostatni literacki tekst pt. Tryptyk rzymski.
Karol Wojtyła / Jan Paweł II jest wybitnym, lecz ciągle niedocenianym pisarzem metafizycznym.
Bibliografia Jana Pawla II (okres przedpontyfikalny)
Dramaty: Dawid, Hiob, Jeremiasz, Przed sklepem jubilera, Brat naszego Boga, Promieniowanie ojcostwa.
Poezja: Renesansowy psałterz i wiele innych wierszy.
The canonizations of Pope John Paul II April 27, 2014 was a historic moment for the Catholic Church and for… literary world as well. Until his election as pope John Paul II was not only a Polish priest named Karol Wojtyla but a writer too. As the old pope he has written his last literary text titled Roman Triptych.
Karol Wojtyła / John Paul II is an outstanding but still underestimated metaphysical writer.
Pope John Paul II bibliography (Pre-Pontifical Writings)
Plays: David,Job, Jeremiah,The Jeweller’s Shop,Our God’s Brother, Radiation of Fatherhood.
Taras Szewczenko (1814-1861) to najwybitniejszy ukraiński pisarz, a także znakomity malarz. (Obejrzyj jego autoportret). Szewczenko ukształtował podwaliny pod nowoczesny literacki język ukraiński.
Taras Shevchenko (1814-1861) is the greatest Ukrainian writer and outstanding painter as well. (See his self-portrait). Shevchenko has created the foundation of the modern literary Ukrainian language.
Artysta marzył o wolnej Ukrainie.
The artist dreamed about Ukraine as an independent state.
Szewczenko żył tylko 47 lat, lecz zaledwie 9 jako wolny człowiek: 24 lata był chłopem pańszczyźnianym, 10 lat spędził na wygnaniu, na które skazał go car za udział w walce o wolną Ukrainę. Pisarz ukształtował podwaliny nowoczesnego literackiego języka ukraińskiego.
Shevchenko lived only 47 years but merely 9 as a free man: 24 years he spent in serfdom, 10 in exile as a prisoner of tsar for participating in a secret long-term battle for free Ukraine.
Ironia losu. Świętowanie 200. rocznicy urodzin Tarasa Szewczenki ma miejsce w marcu 2014, kiedy rosyjskie wojska okupują ukraiński Krym.
The Irony of Fate. Celebration the 200th Anniversary of Birth of Taras Shevchenko takes place on March, 2014 when Russian Troops occupy Ukraine’s Crimea.
This special entry is for my international readers 🙂
I’ ve promised to write about Julian Tuwim on the occasion of his tribute year. Tuwim published his first poem, Plea (Prośba) , a hundred years ago in the „Kurier Warszawski” newspaper. Eventually, Tuwim became one of the most renowned Polish writers, deeply rooted in Poland and its literary tradition. In addition to many volumes of poetry he also wrote for children. His brilliant and funny poem The Locomotive (Lokomotywa) shaped the language and imagination of many generations of Polish youngsters.
Tuwim’s poetry is famous for its incredibly rich, flexible, beautiful and elegant language which, at times, does not shy from biting or coarse expressions.
Watch and hear below:
I have the honour to present this Tuwim’s poem in an excellent and charming translation, as well as performance, by Marcel Weyland, an outstanding writer and translator.
Just a moment, please! First, kindly read Tuwim’s short bio:
J U L I A N T U W I M
Born: September 13, 1894, Łódź, Poland, into a middle-class family
Died: December 27, 1953 (aged 59), Zakopane, Poland
Occupation: Poet
Nationality: Polish
Ethnicity: Jewish
Literary movement: Skamander
Notable award: Golden Laurel of the Polish Academy of Literature (1935)
Parents: Izydor and Adela (nee Krukowski, shot by German Nazis in Otwock’s Gettho in 1942)
Spouse: Stefania Tuwim nee Marchew (since 1919)
Children: Ewa Tuwim-Woźniak
Relatives: Irena Tuwim (sister, a poet herself); Kazimierz Krukowski (cousin, a Polish-Jewish cabaret performer and writer); great pianist Arthur Rubinstein; Adam Czerniaków, a Polish-Jewish engineer and senator, who committed a suicide in the Warsaw Ghetto, uncle by marriage.
Most important life events:
Studies (law and philosophy at the Warsaw University.) Co-funding the literary group „Skamander” and the „Picador” cabaret. Writing for and acting as artistic director of several other cabarets. Emigration, at the beginning of WWII, to France, Brazil and finally the USA. Return to Poland in 1946, where his more modest creativity contrasted with his extensive prewar writing and performing.
Attention: behold, The Locomotive!
Last but not least: why did I name Tuwim The Most Beautiful Poet?
Maria Kuncewiczowa (1895-1989), a writer, explains this well :
Tuwim with his gorgeous mole on his cheek . Apparently this mole gave him an inferiority complex. Hard to believe. I doubt that he would have been more beautiful without the mole, since he was so attractive with it. I imagined that the Persian poet Hafiz looked just like him and I was surprised not to see Tuwim walk a gazelle on a silver chain through the city streets.
Bibliografia / Bibliography
Chosen texts:
. Czyhanie na Boga (Lurking for God, 1918)
. Sokrates tańczący (Dancing Socrates, 1920)
. Siódma jesień (The Seventh Autumn, 1921)
. Wierszy tom czwarty (Poems, Volume Four, 1923)
. Murzynek Bambo (Bambo the little Negro, 1923)
. Czary i czarty polskie (Sorcery and Deuces of Poland, 1924)
. Wypisy czarnoksięskie (The Reader of Sorcery, 1924)
. A to pan zna? (And do you know it?, 1925)
. Czarna msza (Black Mass, 1925)
. Tysiąc dziwów prawdziwych (A Thousand Real Curiosities, 1925)
. Słowa we krwi (Words in Blood, 1926)
. Tajemnice amuletów i talizmanów (The Secrets of Amulets and Talismans, 1926)
. Polityczna szopka cyrulika warszawskiego (The Political Puppet Theatre of a Warsaw Barber, 1927)
. Rzecz czarnoleska (A Tale of Czarnolas, 1929)
. Jeździec miedziany (The Bronze Horseman, 1932)
. Biblia cygańska i inne wiersze (Gypsy Bible and Other Poems, 1932)
. Jarmark rymów (Rhyme Market, 1934)
. Polski słownik pijacki i antologia bachiczna (The Polish Drunkard’s Dictionary and the Bacchic Anthology, 1935)
. Treść gorejąca (Burning Content, 1936)
. Bal w Operze ( Ball at the Opera,1936, published 1946)
. Kwiaty polskie (Polish Flowers,1940-1946, published 1949)
. Pegaz dęba, czyli panoptikum poetyckie (Pegasus Rearing, or a Poetic Panopticum, 1950)
. W oparach absurdu (In the Fumes of Absurdity, 1958)
American poet William Stanley Merwin has been awarded the international Zbigniew Herbert Prize (dedicated to the memory of the late Polish writer. Merwin is its first recipient).
The award was presented, along with a check for $50,000, during a ceremony on June 3, 2013, at the Teatr Polski (Polish Theatre) in Warsaw, Poland.
Ściskając w ramionach na pół uduszone od dymu niemowlę
biegła z krzykiem schodami podpalonego domu.
Z pierwszego piętra na drugie.
Z drugiego na trzecie.
Z trzeciego na czwarte.
Aż wyskoczyła na dach
i zachłysnąwszy się powietrzem, uczepiona komina
spojrzała w dół, skąd dobiegał
szelest podchodzących coraz wyżej płomieni.
Wtedy znieruchomiała i umilkła.
Milczała już do końca, aż do chwili,
gdy nagle zacisnęła powieki,
zrobiła krok ku krawędzi dachu i wysuwając przed siebie ręce
upuściła dziecko w dół.
Dwie sekundy wcześniej, nim skoczyła sama.
THE GHETTO: A MOTHER
Cuddling in the arms her half-asphyxiated baby, howling,
she ran up the staircase of the apartment building that was set ablaze.
From the first floor to the second.
From the second to the third.
From the third to the fourth.
Until she had jumped onto the roof.
There, having choked with air, clinging to the chimney,
she looked down from where she could hear
the crackle of flames which were reaching higher and higher.
And then she became motionless and silent.
She kept silent to the end, till the moment
at which she suddenly clenched her eyelids,
stepped to the roof edge and, throwing forward her arms,
she dropped her baby down.
Two seconds earlier than she herself leapt down.
ANNA ŚWIRSZCZYŃSKA (1909–1984)
Anna Swirszczyńska (also known as Anna Swir) was born in Warsaw to an artistic though impoverished family. She studied medieval Polish literature. In the 1930s she worked for the teachers’ association, served as an editor, and began publishing poetry. Swirszczyńska joined the Resistance during World War II and worked as a military nurse during the Warsaw Uprising; at one point she came within an hour of being executed before she was spared. In addition to poetry, which deals with themes such as motherhood, the female body, and sensuality, Swirszczyńska wrote plays and stories for children and directed a children’s theater. She lived in Krakow from 1945 until her death in 1984.
Poetry collections
Wiersze i proza (Poems and Prose) (1936)
Liryki zebrane (Collected Poems) (1958)
Czarne słowa (Black Words) (1967)
Wiatr (Wind) (1970)
Jestem baba (I am a Woman) (1972)
Poezje wybrane (Selected Poems) (1973)
Budowałam barykadę (Building the Barricade) (1974)
Szczęśliwa jak psi ogon (Happy as a Dog’s Tail) (1978)
Cierpienie i radość (Suffering and Joy) (1985)
Collections in English translation
Thirty-four Poems on the Warsaw Uprising (1977), New York. Transl.: Magnus Jan Kryński, Robert A. Maguire.
Building the Barricade (1979), Kraków. Transl.: Magnus Jan Kryński, Robert A. Maguire.
Happy as a Dog’s Tail (1985), San Diego. Transl.: Czesław Miłosz i Leonard Nathan.
Fat Like the Sun (1986), London. Transl.: M. Marshment, G. Baran.
Talking to My Body (Copper Canyon Press, 1996) Transl.: Czesław Miłosz i Leonard Nathan.
Building the Barricade and Other Poems of Anna Swir Tr. by Piotr Florczyk (Calypso Editions, 2011).
Jednym z moich ulubionych autorów jest Rene Goscinny. Jego Mikołajek, do którego ilustracje wykonał Jean-Jacques Sempé, to jedna z najlepszych książek i dla dzieci, i dla dorosłych. Jest również wspaniałym prezentem na Boże Narodzenie!
One of my most favorite authors is Rene Goscinny. Little Nicholas by Goscinny with drawings by Jean-Jacques Sempé is one of the best books for children and adults alike. It would make a perfect Christmas gift!
Teksty z Wikipedii krytykuje się często za zbytnią komplikację lub uproszczenia, ale tym razem W. daje świetną charakterystykę Goscinny’ego, zawartą w krótkich słowach.
Wikipedia entries are often criticized for being too complicated or too simplistic. However in this case Wikipedia provides a short but excellent article about Goscinny.
Goscinny urodził się w Paryżu w roku 1926 w rodzinie żydowskiej, pochodzącej z Polski. Jego rodzicami byli inżynier chemik, Stanisław Simkha Gościnny („Gościnny” to znaczące nazwisko, a „Simkha” – to „Szczęście”) oraz Anna (Hanna) Bereśniak-Gościnna […]
Goscinny was born in Paris in 1926, to a family of Jewish immigrants from Poland; his parents were Stanisław Simkha Gościnny(the surname means hospitable in Polish; Simkha is his Jewish name meaning happiness), a chemical engineer from Warsaw, Poland, and Anna (Hanna) Bereśniak-Gościnna […]
Kanonizacja Jana Pawła II 27 kwietnia 2014 roku była historycznym wydarzeniem dla Kościoła Katolickiego, lecz również dla… świata literatury. Zanim Jan Paweł II został papieżem, był nie tylko polskim księdzem o nazwisku Karol Wojtyła, ale i pisarzem. Jako stary papież napisał swój ostatni literacki tekst pt. Tryptyk rzymski.
ALE KSIĄŻKI / AND YET THE BOOKS 