Life / Polish authors, books & literature. [95]

Andrzej Stasiuk

I read two of his books.

"Opowieści galicyjskie" ("Galician tales") - a semi-fictional travel to a god-forgotten village in the provincial Carpatian foothills - back in time to the last days of PRL and early post-communist times. Some fragments are almost brutal in their exposition of immoral characters of some villagers. Not quite "The Delivery", but tough to read sometimes.

"Jadąc do Babadag" ("Travelling to Babadag"), a nostalgic report from the "second class" Europe: Ukraine, Romania, Hungary. The action is set during the post-communist transformation period. Attention to details, great observation ability, good style. I liked this book.

Here is a fragment from his profile on culture.pl:
[i]
More than a cult

by J. Andruchowycz, translated B. Zadura

Love / Looking for a Polish love song [78]


It appears in many Polish sites. The trick is to google it as a phrase, in quotes.
The much longer version, entitled "Rozmowa", starts with:

Można w kraju żyć swobodnie, gdy się dobrze język zna !
Ale czasem jest wygodniej, gdy się zna języki dwa !
Ja do ciebie po angielsku, ty po polsku do mnie mów !
Może nam się kiedyś przydać tych niewinnych parę słów:
....

It's all here:
tasmania.blox.pl/2004/09/Dwie-ojczyzny.html
(scroll down to the middle of the page)

Life / Polish authors, books & literature. [95]


Right. This is the obvious connection, which escaped me - thanks for pointing it out. It has been long time since my introduction to "Czarodziejska Góra". Memory, memory! All I remember from "The Buddenbrooks" is one or two details and the general climate but that's about it.

Oh, I forgot to mention: the Castorp has been translated into English.

Life / Polish authors, books & literature. [95]

Paweł Huelle, Castorp

Quite different from, although kind of complementary to Grass'es "The Tin Drum", or Mann's "The Magic Mountain".

Genealogy / Looking for any and all information on Dabrowski/Dombrowski from Poland [88]

Midas was a bit faster ... :-)

I assume you realize that the original name of your grandparents was Dąbrowski. Good luck with your search, but this seems like a tough case, since the name is the 11th most common surname in Poland. Wikipedia has few pages devoted to Dąbrowski:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dąbrowski]
Jan Henryk Dąbrowski (the one mentioned in Polish National Anthem)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Henryk_Dąbrowski
Jarosław Dąbrowski
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jarosław_Dąbrowski

Life / Polish authors, books & literature. [95]

Many Polish books of the historical genre - especially those written abroad - are bitter and argumentative. Jarosław Abramow-Newerly, son of Igor Newerly - the author of "Pamiątka z Celulozy", or "Chłopiec z Salskich Stepów" - somehow manages to talk about controversial issues with the great sense of humour. I like his book "Granica Sokoła", Styl, Warszawa 2001, where he easily moves from Zaleszczyki, to Czortków in Tarnopole voivodship, and later to Warsaw and finally to Toronto, Canada - covering about 80 years of time, and exposing the reader to various cultures (Polish, Ukrainian, Jewish, Russian) and beliefs, including hardcore Communism.

- To moje hobby, panie Jarosławie. I sens życia. £owię te perły od czasu studiów (...) Oto strofy pańskiego mistrza, mistrzu:

Life / Polish authors, books & literature. [95]


Great, I enjoy his witty humour appearing in these little stories from both sides of the Atlantic: "Bronek i Roksana", "Arthur Miller i Joseph Papp", etc.

Life / Polish authors, books & literature. [95]

Here is a little pearl, which I discovered last year in a local store:
F. Antoni Ossendowski, Huculszczyzna, Gorgany i Czarnohora, Cuda Polski, reprint on the basis of the first edition, Wydawnictwo Polskie, Poznań [1936]

[The entire series of "Cuda Polski" used to be banned from Polish libraries during the communism]

Antoni Ferdynand Ossendowski (1876-1945) was the second author, after Sieńkiewicz, having the largest number of translations into foreign languages (142 translations in 19 languages ). Highly original, colorful character, having an exceptionally turbulent life. The writer, thinker-futurologist, journalist and editor of several journals, a passionate hunter, wildlife expert, explorer-globetrotter, doctor of Chemical Sciences, professor of many universities, a member of the French Academy. At some point in his life, a revolutionary activist and strong opponent of the Bolsheviks. He was the author of four volumes published in the series "Miracles of Poland": Huculszczyzna, Gorgany and Czarnohora; the Carpathians and the Subcarpathia; Polesie and the Wild Forests of Poland. [Translated by me, from the book's cover]

See also: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ossendowski

On the surface, this book supposes to be just a tourist/anthropologic/ethnographic guide to the Eastern part of the Carpathian mountains, now Ukraine, east of Polish Bieszczady. But this is more than that: the author's unbeatable sense of observation and rich vocabulary makes this little book a real pleasure to read. Anyone frequenting Bieszczady would also find it a very valuable source of information about Hucul peoples, and their customs and art. Plenty of white and black photographs and sketches supplement the author's colourful language.

Life / Polish authors, books & literature. [95]

Take it easy! The term "culture shock", when used in some silly context, quite often makes me laugh and this is why I put it in quotes.

Life / Polish authors, books & literature. [95]

Krynski


x2
Also available online, 1Mb pdf file.
But be prepared for some "culture shock" and a (stylized?) peasant dialect from NE Poland. Here is a sample from the first page:

Jesienio gospodarze wstajo długo, po trochu, posmakować lubio. Jakby taki był, co by widział przez ściany i przez ciemno, to on by może i widział co gospodarze robio jak koguty w sieniach odśpiewajo im trzecie pobudkę.

Przecknąwszy sie oczow nie odmykajo, leżo, leżo sobie pod pierzynami jak bochenki w piecach, jak w gniazdach jajka pod kurami, każdy rozgrzany, rozpalony, baba jemu do pleców przylipła, dycha w szyje aż parzy, w nogach ciepło, w łokciach ciepło, pod pachami ciepło, aj dobrze, żaden nie ruszy sie, nie drygnie, żeb tego swojego przytuliska, ciepliska Broń Boże nie zruszyć, leży, poleży, jeszcze trochu, troszku, aj nie chce sie z gniazda ciepłego wyłazić. Ale to że tam dzieś słonko sie ocknęło i czas wstawać, świdruje to, poszturchuje.

Life / Sexual culture in Poland [66]

[Moved from]: Doctor Kurkiewicz - A pioneer of Polish sexuology

The online version of the weekly Polityka presents interesting article about doctor Kurkiewicz, a pioneer of Polish sexology. Unfortunately, the article is in Polish only. I would not even consider translating it, since it is full of funny slavic neologisms. A good challenge for some language experts here, though.

Here is a short excerpt:


polityka.pl/historia/1514802,1,pionier-polskiej-seksuologii.read