Polish writers

[Monica]

Has anyone heard anything about Polish writers such as Mickiewicz, Słowacki, Gombrowicz, Witkacy, Miłosz, Szymborska, Lem.............? In Poland during literature classes we generally learn only about our native writers. How is it in your countries? Naturally, the teachers contentrate on national literature, but do they at least mention other ones?

[Natascha]

Has anyone heard anything about Polish writers such as Mickiewicz, Słowacki, Gombrowicz, Witkacy, Miłosz, Szymborska, Lem.............? In Poland during literature classes we generally learn only about our native writers. How is it in your countries? Naturally, the teachers contentrate on national literature, but do they at least mention other ones?

I've heard about all of them (basically 'cause I studied literature and now I'm teaching it myself at the university).
What for Mickiewicz - funny thing, Monica, I'm from Belarus where people consider him to be our national writer (though I won't agree with that completely - he wrote in Polish in the end)

[simon]

I have never heard of any of them, but I would appriciate knowing. What are some books they have written, what's the style like? Are there any specific polish author traits for storytelling?

[Koa]

I heard of Mickiewicz at lessons of Slavi Philology, but I don't know much.

Of course in my country (Italy) we learn about our literature at school, in chronological order as everything else. (I've been meaning to open a thread about Italian Literature for like one year, but I never did...I keep telling myself I'll do it when I have time (lol like I wasnt spending enough time here anyway ;)), so wait for my holidays in 10 days...)

[trismegistus]

If you mean Czeslaw Milosz I love what I've read of his poetry, but I thought he was Lithuanian.

[nyka]

Czeslaw Milosz was born in Lithuania and studied in Vilnius during Polish occupation. Lithuania is very important for him (novel about his childhood THE ISSA VALLEY, 1955) but he wrote in Polish and was (unfortunately:)) Polish writer.

[robson]

Milosz and Szymborska were awarded Nobel prizes for their poetry, and Lem is one of the most notable futurist writer

[Etienne]

I recently read Grombowicz's Ferdydurke and a few short stories from Bakakai, and I'm definitly going to read some more of his books!

[Pamina]

I really liked Sienkiewicz when I was about 12 or 13 years old. I think I read all of his novels. Although now his writing seems a bit naive to me, I still consider Quo vadis and Potop (Deluge) a decent piece of writing. And, of course, that story about two kidnapped children (don't know the English title and don't want to even try to spell the Polish title ...) - loved it as a kid.

[stlukesguild]

Has anyone heard anything about Polish writers such as Mickiewicz, Słowacki, Gombrowicz, Witkacy, Miłosz, Szymborska, Lem.............? In Poland during literature classes we generally learn only about our native writers. How is it in your countries? Naturally, the teachers contentrate on national literature, but do they at least mention other ones?

Being a great lover of poetry I have read Czeslaw Milosz... as well as his cousin, O.V. de L. Milosz (who actually was more Lithuanian... and wrote in French), Szymborska, and Adam Zagajewski. I've also read some of Potocki and own... yet have not as of yet read Witkiewicz (Instability) and Sienkiewicz. My own literary education was probably fairly common for the US and included a good sampling of American and Western literature (Homer, Virgil, Dante, Petrarch, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, Goethe, Baudelaire, etc...) I think the American approach may be a bit different than that of a country like Poland in the sense that we share a language... and as such we seemingly share or have adapted much of the literary culture of Britain as well as our own. This must be expected considering our own "newness" as a culture and our English roots. At the same time... owing to the influx of so many other cultures I believe we are also open to the arts of various other cultures... especially those with whom we have the closest ties (for better or worse).

[Moandor]

... And, of course, that story about two kidnapped children (don't know the English title and don't want to even try to spell the Polish title ...) - loved it as a kid.

Polish title of this book is "W pustyni i w puszczy", in english it will be "In Desert and Wilderness"

[aabbcc]

School-wise, I had extremely limited experience with Polish literature, the only work I remember being required to read was Sienkiewicz's In Desert and Wilderness somewhere about sixth grade.

Recently I moved to Italy and here I attend my last year of school, but - even though I lived for given periods of time, and thus was educated in, a couple of countries - I am mostly under the influence of Croatian school system, under which I spent the most time. The approach to literature there was quite different from the one I have heard of in other countries (or even here in Italy).
We always studied what they called world literature, heavily emphasised on European literature, and even though our national literature made a significant portion of our curriculum, it was never exclusively about it. We had these textbooks, called čitanka (literally: a book to be read from), which were filled with excerpts from various works from the studied epoch, notes on their authors, literary theory and history. In addition to those, we had to read a set of books each year, only some of which were from our national literature. In lycée (gymnasium), I certainly was reading more "foreign" than "our" literature school-wise.

So, from Homer to Moliere to Dostoevsky to Mann, pretty much anything that made a significant influence on European literature and culture overall, we either studied it by reading the full works, either at least read about it or contextualised it into the history of literature. Very few works we read were works by American authors (from lycée I remember Poe, Salinger and Hemingway; prior to lycée we read Twain and Hemingway, if my memory serves me), and those equally rarely appeared on the list of elective readings, or in fragments in our textbooks. Even in English classes (which was foreign language to us), the literature we studied was predominately British. That is why, to the present day, I consider American literature to be my great gap in education (even though I have read more of it on my own, naturally), but I understand that it would be impossible to fit it all into the curriculum, so something had to be cut on.
Regarding non-Western literature, that we barely ever touched. They liked to emphasise that we studied world literature, but technically, we studied Western Civilisation literature masqued as "world".

In Serbia it was similar, the textbooks pretty much corresponded to each other, the only difference being that Serbian lycée curriculum was overall "quicker" during first years so that it could emphasise more modern literature later. For example, modernism as a movement in Croatia is studied at the beginning of IV year (senior year of high school), but in Serbia at the beginning of III year. Also, for some reason, more Russian authors were read in Serbia than in Croatia. For example, Sholovoh's Silent Don is a work practically unheard of in Croatian curriculum, whilst it is read in Serbia, etc.
In Russia, literature curriculum was quite exhausting reading Russian literature (or was it the fact that I, prior to that, was fairly ignorant of it and knew only "big names", and thus found it all to be just too much?), though a lot of world literature was also studied. All three countries pretty much worked following the same logic, though. Compulsory reading lists were largest in Russia, but the overall context given was the most comprehensive in Croatia, from my experiences.
In Italy we get to study foreign literature (the same one which I already studied in Croatia :D), but it is mostly Italian, and my friends tell me that prior to a year or two ago they practically studied solely Italian literature.

Back to the topic of Polish literature, the only authors I have (had) some experience with were Sienkiewicz, Milosz and Jerzy Lec; and except from the excerpts in the anthologies of poetry, I have not met or read other Polish authors... Any good suggestions?

[nyka]

Back to the topic of Polish literature, the only authors I have (had) some experience with were Sienkiewicz, Milosz and Jerzy Lec; and except from the excerpts in the anthologies of poetry, I have not met or read other Polish authors... Any good suggestions?

There are many good Polish writers... It is hard to decide which authors to name. Poetry: Szymborska, Milosz, Herbert, Różewicz, Baranczak, Białoszewsky, Zagajewski, Bursa, Swietlicki... Prosaists: Bruno Schulz, Gombrowicz, Nienacki, Konwicki, Pilch, Tokarczuk, Stasiuk...

[ex ponto]

I still like Sienkiewicz's Quo vadis and I'm fond of Sienkiewicz as a man.
I like some short stories by Zeromski and Reymont and I have great admiration for Polish culture.

[tractatus]

I have read Gombrowicz only, Ferdydurke and Kosmos, I like these books. They are on good place in my scale.
I have another book, "Manuscipt found in Zaragoza" by Jan Potocki. It s a nice fantastic book, also a good frontier of modern kind of novel, It should be written somewhere 1780-1815.

[tractatus]

I forget to add my Kosinski's. I was thought he is American but wikipedia says Polish-American.
But the strongest one, of course Gombrowicz. Worths much to read.

[lupe]

My knowledge of Polish literature is also quite limited, though there is something very special on a personal level. I still consider "The Enchanted" of Gombrowicz as one of the 20 best novels I've ever read (and it was almost 20 years ago). I recommend it to everyone who loves the feeling of not being able to wait - and at the same time is scared - to read the next page!

Did anybody out there love "The Enchanted" and has anything similar reading to propose?

I currently read "Insatiability" of Witkiewicz, a very different kind of novel. Certainly a difficult reading, with a style that demands your full attention but somehow fails to come to conclusive ideas. I haven't finished it yet though. Any opinion on this book (especially from the ones who read it in Polish)?

[Pecksie]

I very much want to read Mickiewicz; I have read Sienkiewicz (loved him as a kid), Milosz (a book of short pieces I didn't much enjoy, but I might try other books by him) and Szymborska (too chatty for me, and grossly overvalued if you ask my opinion).

I've also bought Tomek Tryzna's 'Miss Nobody', which intrigued me. Looks pretty interesting :)

[stlukesguild]

Another book of real interest is Jan Potocki's The Manuscript found in Saragossa. The book is a fantastic frame story (containing numerous stories within the larger framing story) ala the Decameron or Canterbury Tales. Dating from the late 18th/early 19th century the book reads, as Salman Rushdie put it, as "a Polish classic... constructed like a Chinese box of tales." The tales range from the supernatural and Gothic "ghost stories" ... to sensuous eroticism and grand adventure.

[promtbr]

Gotta plug one of my all time favorite writers (iregardless of country of origin) : Bruno Schulz

His Street of Crocodiles and Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass are gems.

Some of the best prose PERIOD.

The Yugolalvian/Serb writer Danilo Kis once said "Bruno Schulz is my God"

Schulz was murdered by an SS officer at the age of 50, only those two volumes of stories are published (along with some REALLY stange drawings).

A rumored novel of his: The Messiah, the manuscript of which has never been found, but is the basis of Cynthia Ozick's novella The Messiah of Stockholm

His Wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruno_Schulz

[FalseReality]

I think my favorite polish writer has to be Tadeusz Borowski. He wrote poetry about concentration camps and nazis, but also wrote in prose after his release. "This way for gas, ladies and gentlemen." is an amazing short story.

[lupe]

I just finished “Insatiability”, a long complex novel written by Witkiewicz in 1927. The author is considered as one of the greatest spirits of his generation and committed suicide the day he saw his worst nightmare come true: the invasion of Poland by the Soviet Union in the beginning of the 2ND World War.

The novel brings Europe face to face with its future totalitarian regimes and thus has an interesting political and historical background, who acts as a third “level” of the story. The second one revolves around Witkievitz ideas on philosophy and arts, in a period of important movements, but also great fears for the future. Finally, the first level deals with the adventures and misadventures of the young hero, from his first sexual experiences to his ascendance to the polish military corps.

Despite its obvious prophetic character, the book struggled to grab my full attention. In the first place, it’s quite difficult for anyone to identify with the main hero, who develops an erratic behaviour - and commits two un-justified murders. More importantly, every development of the story is followed by excessively long parts of Witkiewicz’s own ideas and opinions on myriad issues, which seem both inconclusive and unhelpful for the understanding of the characters’ psychic world.

There is obviously much more to the Polish literature of the last century to discover. Some of the previous posts have interesting suggestions.

[Mopey Droney]

I need to read more European literature in general, but I did like Bruno Schulz's Streets of Crocodiles and Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass.

[Eric Vornoff]

I believe Lem's Solaris is the greatest SF novel ever written. It is extremely balanced mixture of philosophy, psychology, scientific insights and engaging plot.

[hamlette]

I agree, Ferdydurke was excellent.

I'm especially fond of Herbert and Sienkiewicz, and Czeslow Milosz is probably one of my favorite critics. Has anyone read his History of Polish Literature?

[hamlette]

Boleslaw Prus' The Doll is a worthwhile read as well. It has been labeled "the Polish Vanity Fair."

[Pecksie]

Yeps --- I've read Szymborska (overrated in my opinion), Milosz (I read 'Road Dog' and didn't like it much), and Kosinski (wonderful). I'd very much like to read Mickiewicz as I'm interested in the Romantic movement in general, and Gombrowicz who I think lived in South America for some years.

I also have Antoni Libera's 'Madame' and Tomek Tryzna's 'Miss Nobody' in my to-read shelf --- any insights?

[hannah_arendt]

I really liked Sienkiewicz when I was about 12 or 13 years old. I think I read all of his novels. Although now his writing seems a bit naive to me, I still consider Quo vadis and Potop (Deluge) a decent piece of writing. And, of course, that story about two kidnapped children (don't know the English title and don't want to even try to spell the Polish title ...) - loved it as a kid.

Do you know more authors of this period? For example Eliza Orzeszkowa, Bolesław Prus?

[hannah_arendt]

I think my favorite polish writer has to be Tadeusz Borowski. He wrote poetry about concentration camps and nazis, but also wrote in prose after his release. "This way for gas, ladies and gentlemen." is an amazing short story.

Have you ever heard about Hanna Krall?