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Polish authors, books & literature.


pawian  226 | 27458
22 Feb 2024   #91
The next part with the holy words of wisdom in bold:

Karlik, noticing that the light was falling behind, looked back at him.
- Swim, man! - he shouted, trying to shout over the noise. - Can you hear that? Swim!
- Why... it doesn't matter, whether here... or a meter away - Gola muttered in a weak voice.
Karlik didn't hear these words, but he understood that Gola had had enough. With a last effort he swam to him, took the lamp and dragged him along. Seeing him resist, he gritted his teeth and knocked him off balance with a punch to the chest. Gola submerged with his head, but immediately surfaced. Choking and snorting, he began to swim after Karlik.

Karlik moved with difficulty, holding a lamp in his hand. Splashes of water hissed through the flame. To prevent it from going out, he turned the tap on to the highest setting.

His father's words echoed in his mind: "A miner never abandons his lamp."
The lamp was the most important thing now. It was probably the only thing that kept them conscious and alive.
It still let them believe that everything they were experiencing was just an adventure... a terrible one, but an adventure, a real adventure, and not some terrible dream, that there really was water and rocks, and among them... they . If it went out, it would be the end. They would stop believing that they were still alive, that they were fighting, that they existed, and then they would really die.

So, although exhausted by the inhuman effort, he can barely stay afloat on his own, although the lamp weighs unbearably and bothers him, although every fiber of his tired muscles demands that he throw it into the water, although he is tempted to let himself be swallowed up by the water, the rock and the darkness - he clitches it steadfastly in the fainting hand and he knows that he won't let go, even if he has to hold it with his teeth.

But meanwhile the journey seemed to be drawing near to its terrible end.
At one point, when he emerged from the water, he could no longer see the rest of the tunnel, that black abyss that roared with fear, but also with hope. Instead, he clearly saw a yellowish wall against which the foamy current was breaking. That means... it's over. So the tunnel was blind after all.

At the same moment, a powerful whirlpool carried him away and drove him somewhere nearby. He almost dropped the lamp from his numb hand. He tried to reach the bottom with his foot, but it was impossible. He only felt strong underwater whirlpools. When the water encountered the rock barrier, it churned, retreated and collided. To avoid being sucked into this deadly whirlpool, he clung to the rock.

pawian  226 | 27458
22 Feb 2024   #92
he clitches it steadfastly in the fainting hand and he knows that he won't let go, even if he has to hold it with his teeth.

These holy words became my inspiration - never ever give up - you have to fight to the fekking end. Successful end, of course.

BTW, the boys find the way out of the flooded tunnel and return home. Sigh!!!!!! ):):):
Atch  22 | 4295
22 Feb 2024   #93
In the words of Samuel Beckett:

"You must go on. I can't go on. I'll go on."

That's life in a nutshell.
pawian  226 | 27458
22 Feb 2024   #94
"You must go on. I can't go on. I'll go on."

The motto practised by Beckett`s protagonists in the Waiting for Godot. :):):) That`s what I remember by him from my uni years.
pawian  226 | 27458
5 Oct 2024   #95
The excerpt below has been an inspiration to me for decades, since I read it as a child. Edmund Niziurski

Another inspiring credo from the same book. It functions as a traditional saying in the family of the village blacksmith who are hard working people:

Do today what you are supposed to do tomorrow.
Eat tomorrow what you are supposed to eat today.


I must say I adhere to this saying quite often. Yesterday I came back from work very late. Instead of having dinner, I started mending a cats` litter box which had broken during the day.
Korvinus  6 | 789
16 Aug 2025   #96
[Adam Mickiewicz] was a poet for goodness sake,

Ah, so you're not the fan of Polish XIX century literature or just Adam Mickiewicz in particular? How do you like "Reduta Ordona"?

But I'm personally on Slowacki's side of that argument and I find his semi-mocking "Winkelried of nations" much more appealing.
Novichok  7 | 10738
16 Aug 2025   #97
But I'm personally on Slowacki's side

Are you a woman or a girlie man?

Why would any sane man read Miczkiewicz or Slowacki? Nobody who did ever said: Oh, I didn't know THAT...

So, what's the point...
Torq  20 | 1944
16 Aug 2025   #98
Why would any sane man read Miczkiewicz or Slowacki?

Because great poets they were and their poetry delights us.

Bo wielkimi poetami byli i ich poezja nas zachwyca.

Don't you read Gombrowicz either, Novi, you incorrigible troglodyte?
Lyzko  45 | 10122
18 Aug 2025   #99
Zupelnie zgodze sie, Torq!

Great poets, musicians, and artists (including of course film makers) are the life blood
of any civilzation, cultural guardians of the national consciousness. To my mind, one of
modern Poland's greatest poets is Jaroslaw Iwaszkiewicz.

"Przez caly bialy dzionek czekam,
Az stanie wieczor wiencu gwiazd..."
Novichok  7 | 10738
18 Aug 2025   #100
Don't you read Gombrowicz either, Novi, you incorrigible troglodyte?

I would rather read a phone book...than some useless crap that wouldn't move a needle in anyone's life...

How would your life change today if by the magic of surgery Gobro, Mickiewicz, and Slowacki got erased?

I wish I could erase the remnants of my Polish...Nobody gave me a free cup of coffee because I know it. BFD!
Torq  20 | 1944
18 Aug 2025   #101
BFD!

Yeah, right.

I bet there is a Ferdydurke, Ziemia Obiecana, Quo Vadis, and all the other Polish classics bound in leather in your study.

You're not fooling anyone, Ryszardzie.
Novichok  7 | 10738
18 Aug 2025   #102
In my house, there is not a single object that would tie me to Poland. Not even one...

My Polish passport is in a safety deposit box along with the US passport and car titles.

Men shop for Covettes and guns. They don't smell flowers, read books, paint landscapes, or decorate their bedrooms.

Gays are not men. They are mentally ill replicas.
Torq  20 | 1944
18 Aug 2025   #103
Not even one...

Liar.
AntV  4 | 774
18 Aug 2025   #104
Men shop for Covettes and guns. They don't smell flowers, read books, paint landscapes, .

I feel emasculated.
jon357  74 | 24953
18 Aug 2025   #105
Ferdydurke

Everyone should read that.

An underrated masterpiece.
Novichok  7 | 10738
19 Aug 2025   #106
Liar.

Moron.

Why do you think 99.99% of my posts are in English?

Answer: Because I can't stand Polish language. Just as I can't stand Chinese music.

Why do Poles always assume that a guy must like his native language? Some don't like their parents...Some parents don't like their kids...

I hate my own voice...
AntV  4 | 774
19 Aug 2025   #107
Because I can't stand Polish language

Why? I think it sounds nice.

I hate my own voice.

Embrace it, Novi, embrace it. Start reading Sienkiewicz out loud in Polish.

Better yet, go visit the Rogalin Palace and read Sienkiewicz out loud in Polish. I visited the palace this summer-wonderful place. Sienkiewicz wrote some of Quo Vadis there, or so they say.
Novichok  7 | 10738
19 Aug 2025   #108
I think it sounds nice.

Why do I not use it in the situations where I can?

Often, I hear two Poles speak at the gym, I recognize it's in Polish and have no fvcking clue what they are saying...except kurwa mac...

Embrace it, Novi, embrace it.

I never had a chance to hear me from a recording until I started leaving voicemails. Disgusting...That's why I don't leave voicemails ... unless I absolutely have to...

The same with pics...
Lyzko  45 | 10122
20 Aug 2025   #109
How typical that the only Polish you'll admit to understanding is a low-class
vulgarism:-)
Novichok  7 | 10738
21 Aug 2025   #110
...only because "kurwa" has that rolling r...
Alien  29 | 7341
22 Aug 2025   #112
only Polish you'll admit

I imagine him sitting in front of his computer in a T-shirt with a Polish eagle, eating pierogi and drinking Polish beer, and then writing how he hates Poland. 🙉
OP Ironside  53 | 13693
22 Aug 2025   #113
I imagine

Your imagination is so poor that there is no need to flash it.
Lyzko  45 | 10122
22 Aug 2025   #114
It's still a damned sight better than yours!
Alien  29 | 7341
24 Aug 2025   #115
@Lyzko
🤝🏻
OP Ironside  53 | 13693
24 Aug 2025   #116
It's still a damned sight better than yours!

Thanks for the confirmation. If you say something, the opposite is the truth.
jon357  74 | 24953
24 Aug 2025   #117
better

Have you read Or-ot?

An amazing Polish poet.
Lyzko  45 | 10122
24 Aug 2025   #118
@Ironside,
Fools rarely admit that they are. You seem no exception.
@jon,
Jewish perhaps? Maybe short for "Dorot" (kolenia).
jon357  74 | 24953
24 Aug 2025   #119
Jewish perhaps?

I don't think so. His name was Artur Oppman (despite the German surname from an ancestor many generations back, he wasn't German) and the Or in his name was originally Ar (as in Artur) however a book printer made a typesetting mistake and the Or stuck.
Lyzko  45 | 10122
25 Aug 2025   #120
Thanks for the update, jon!
You're may be right. Once had an ESL student from Northern Germany,
a young lady whose family name was Oppermann and was most
decidely not Jewish.


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