Merged:
Antoni Lange - and other forgotten great Polish writersVery sad that he seems almost forgotten now. I'm reading Miranda at the moment, which he wrote in 1924 when he was quite old. Unfortunately an English translation isn't available any more as far as I can see, however it's very readable in the original deserves to be. It's an amazing work of pre-war modernist literature and very accessible.
Antoni Lange (1863 - 17 March 1929) was a Polish poet, philosopher, polyglot (15 languages), writer, novelist, science-writer, reporter and translator. A representative of Polish Parnassianism and symbolism, he is also regarded as belonging to the Decadent movement. He was an expert on Romanticism, French literature and a popularizer of culture of Eastern cultures. His novel Miranda is known in some circles.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoni_Lange
His poetry is excellent too:
Poeta rzuca okiem wstecz
I własne czyny swoje waży -
Czy jeszcze ogień w nim się żarzy,
Czy nie pordzewiał jego miecz?
.....
From the Deuteronomion, 1902
Some of his stuff is available free (he died in 1929 so out of copyright) on wolnelektury.pl
There are so many Polish writers, among the greats, who deserve to be better known outside Poland. I'd include the playwright Miron Białoszewski among them, and Hoene-Wroński for his non-fiction. Tuwim is well enough known in Poland and great fun to read but just doesn't seem to translate well.