Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz

Jarosław Leon Iwaszkiewicz (; also known under his literary pseudonym Eleuter; 20 February 1894 – 2 March 1980), was a Polish writer, poet, essayist, dramatist and translator. He is recognized for his literary achievements, beginning with poetry and prose written after World War I. After 1989, he was often presented as a political opportunist during his mature years lived in communist Poland, where he held high offices (participated in the criticism of Polish expatriates, literary and other figures who after World War II remained in the West). He was submitted for consideration for the Nobel Prize in Literature four times. In 1988, he was recognized as a Righteous Among the Nations for his role in sheltering Jews during World War II.

Life and career

Iwaszkiewicz was born in Kalnyk in Kiev Governorate of the Russian Empire (now Vinnytsia Oblast, Ukraine). After the death of his father (an accountant), he and his mother lived in Warsaw in 1902–1904, and then moved back to Kiev Governorate. He graduated from a secondary school in Kiev in 1912 and enrolled at the Law Faculty of Kiev University.

In 1914, he travelled in Sicily and North Africa with his friend and distant cousin Karol Szymanowski, a composer for whose opera King Roger he later provided the libretto. After World War I, in October 1918 Iwaszkiewicz came to Warsaw, where he joined a group of young artists associated with the Pro Arte et Studio magazine. He had his public debut as a poet at the Pod Picadorem café on 29 November. With Julian Tuwim and Antoni Słonimski, he founded the Skamander group of experimental poets in 1919.

thumb|250px|Portrait of Iwaszkiewicz and his wife Anna by [[Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz (1922)]]

He was appointed to be secretary of Maciej Rataj, marshal of the Sejm of the Second Polish Republic and served in that capacity in 1923–1925. During the war, Stawisko also functioned as a center of Polish underground literature and art. He received honorary doctorates from the University of Warsaw in 1971 and the Jagiellonian University in 1979, as well as numerous other Polish, foreign and international awards and distinctions.

Czesław Miłosz wrote the following: "Iwaszkiewicz is a great figure and nobody who deals with Polish literature can omit him. Even if some parts of his huge literary output are excluded, there is enough left, also as a testimony to the three epochs, to secure for him a place higher than that of any of his contemporaries". He concluded, "One is almost inclined to believe that some people are gripped by circumstances meant for them, and that for him the good fortunes, after his impoverished youth, began in the interwar period, to endure also later". For Miłosz could not imagine Iwaszkiewicz as an émigré personality.

In 2012, his great-granddaughter Ludwika Włodek wrote a best-selling biographical book about the life of her great-grandfather, titled Pra.

Works

thumb|250px|Grave of Jarosław and Anna Iwaszkiewicz in [[Brwinów]]

Short stories

Panny z Wilka ('The Wilko Girls'); Brzezina ('The Birch Grove'), Warsaw 1933
Młyn nad Utratą ('The Mill on the River Utrata'), Warsaw 1936
Dwa opowiadania ('Two Stories'), Warsaw 1938
Nowa miłość i inne opowiadania ('New Love and Other Stories'), Warsaw 1946
Tatarak i inne opowiadania ('Calamus and Other Stories'), Warsaw 1960
Heidenreich. Cienie. Dwa opowiadania ('Heidenreich. Shadows. Two Stories'), Poznań 1964

Novels

Zenobia Palmura, Poznań 1920
Ucieczka do Bagdadu ('Escape to Baghdad'), Warsaw 1923
Hilary, syn buchaltera ('Hilary, Son of a Bookkeeper'), Warsaw 1923
Księżyc wschodzi ('The Moon Rises'), Warsaw 1925
Zmowa mężczyzn ('Conspiracy of Men'), Warsaw 1930
Czerwone tarcze ('Red Shields'), Warsaw 1934
Sława i chwała ('Fame and Glory'), vol. 1–3, Warsaw 1956–1962

Poetry

Oktostychy ('Octostichs'), Warsaw 1919
Dionizje ('Dionysiacs'), Warsaw 1922
Kaskady zakończone siedmioma wierszami ('Cascades Ending in Seven Poems'), Warsaw 1925
Pejzaże sentymentalne ('Sentimental Landscapes'), Warsaw 1926
Ksiega dnia i księga nocy ('The Book of Day and the Book of Night'), Warsaw 1929
Powrót do Europy ('Return to Europe'), Warsaw 1931
Lato 1932 ('Summer 1932'), 1933
Inne życie ('Another Life'), 1938
Ody olimpijskie ('Olympian Odes'), Warsaw 1948
Warkocz jesieni ('The Plait of Autumn'), Warsaw 1954
Ciemne ścieżki ('Dark Paths'), Warsaw 1957
Jutro żniwa ('Harvest Tomorrow'), Warsaw 1963
Krągły rok ('Year Round'), Warsaw 1967
Xenie i elegie ('Xenias and Elegies'), Warsaw 1970
Śpiewnik włoski ('Italian Songbook'), Warsaw 1974
Mapa pogody ('Weather Map'), Warsaw 1977

Plays

Libretto to Karol Szymanowski's King Roger; premiere in Teatr Wielki, Warsaw 1926. Szymanowski completely re-wrote the third act libretto.
Kochankowie z Werony. Tragedia romatyczna w 3 aktach ('The Lovers of Verona. Romantic Tragedy in 3 Acts'); premiere in Teatr Nowy, Warsaw 1930
Lato w Nohant. Komedia w 3 aktach ('The Summer at Nohant. Comedy in 3 Acts'); premiere in Teatr Mały, Warsaw 1936
Maskarada. Melodramat w 4 Aktach ('Masquerade. Melodrama in 4 Acts'); premiere in Teatr Polski, Warsaw 1938
Odbudowa Błędomierza. Sztuka w 3 aktach ('The Rebuilding of Błędomierz. Play in 3 Acts'); premiere in Teatr Stary, Kraków 1951
Wesele Pana Balzaka ('The Wedding of Mr. Balzac'); premiere in Teatr Kameralny, Warsaw 1959
Kosmogonia ('Cosmogony'); premiere in Teatr Polski, Warsaw 1967

(Lato w Nohant is based on an episode in Frédéric Chopin's life and Maskarada on Alexander Pushkin's final days.)

60px Order of the Banner of Labour, 1st Class (22 July 1949)
60px Commander's Cross with Star of Order of Polonia Restituta (13 February 1954)
60px Golden Cross of Merit (twice on 15 June 1946 and 17 September 1946)
60px Golden Academic Laurel (7 November 1936)
60px Medal of the 30th Anniversary of People's Poland (1974)
60px Medal of the 10th Anniversary of People's Poland (19 January 1955)
60px Bronze Medal of Merit for National Defence (1967)
60px Badge of the 1000th Anniversary of the Polish State (1963)
60px Grand Officer of Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (Italy, 1965)
60px Order of the National Flag, 1st Class (North Korea, 1954)
60px Order of Friendship of Peoples (USSR, 1974)

Notes

References

External links

Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz at Culture.pl