Franciszek Fiszer (better known as Franc Fiszer; March 25, 1860 – April 9, 1937) was a Polish bon-vivant, gourmand, erudite and philosopher, a friend of the most notable writers and philosophers of contemporary Warsaw and one of Warsaw's semi-legendary people. He is best remembered for a large number of anecdotes, jokes and sayings coined by him and about him. Franciszek_Fiszer

Biography

Franciszek Józef Marian Fiszer was born in 1860 in the Ławy manor near Ostrołęka, to Teresa née Glinczanka and Józef Fiszer. His father was from among the German nobility, polonised in the 18th century and a distant relative of General

Stanisław Fiszer Stanisław Fiszer (1769–1812) was Polish General and Chief of Staff of the Duchy of Warsaw. He was married to Wirydianna Fiszerowa, remembered for her memoirs. An inhabitant of Poland, his family was originally from Germany. Between 1783 and 17 ...

, while his mother was a member of the Polish gentry and owner of the said manor and village. Very little is known of Fiszer's childhood apart from the fact that he was a late child (both of his parents being over 40 at his birth) and that he became an orphan relatively soon. In the 1880s Fiszer moved to Warsaw, where he started spending most of his time in Warsaw's cafes, restaurants and some of the most notable clubs of the era. With time, he became a characteristic part of the Warsaw's social panorama and became friends with most of the contemporary Polish writers, poets, artists and politicians. Renowned for his existential monologues and anecdotes, Fiszer's only pastime was the restaurants. In the interbellum, Fiszer became one of the most notable members of Warsaw's high society. A frequent guest at balls and parties, he became a living legend. His family village became neglected and soon had to be parcellated for debts. However, Fiszer's lifestyle did not suffer, as he barely ever had to pay for his meals, since he was seen by the gastronomers as an advertisement for their restaurants. That is why he often was a guest of '' Udziałowa'', ''

Ziemiańska Ziemiańska or Mała Ziemiańska (the name coined after the term ''ziemianin'', meaning member of Polish landed gentry) was a coffeehouse in Warsaw. It was notable as a meeting place of many of Poland's most prominent artists of the inter-war pe ...

'', '' IPS'', Oaza, Astoria or '' Blikle''. Among the closest friends of Franc Fiszer were

Bolesław Leśmian Bolesław Leśmian (born Bolesław Lesman; January 22, 1877The exact date of his birth is disputed: the act of birth mentions 1877, Leśmian himself used 1878, while the date mentioned on his tombstone is 1879. – November 5, 1937) was a Pol ...

(Fiszer is said to have invented his pen-name), Stefan Żeromski, Władysław Reymont, the '' Skamandrites''

Antoni Słonimski Antoni Słonimski (15 November 1895 – 4 July 1976) was a Polish poet, artist, journalist, playwright and prose writer, president of the Union of Polish Writers in 1956–1959 during the Polish October, known for his devotion to social just ...

and Julian Tuwim, Jan Lechoń, Zenon Przesmycki, Miriam, Artur Rubinstein and Antoni Lange. Although Fiszer never published any book himself, he is mentioned in nearly all memoirs by Warsaw's artists of the inter-war period. Also, he became the only person never to publish a book to be mentioned in both Stanislaw Tatarkiewicz, Stanisław Tatarkiewicz's ''Polish Biographical Dictionary'' and Leszek Kołakowski's ''Philosophy in Poland; Dictionary of Writers''. In 1985, most of the memoirs mentioning Franciszek Fiszer were collected by Roman Loth in a book titled ''Na rogu świata i nieskończoności'' (''At the Crossing of World and Infinity'').

Bibliography

# # {{DEFAULTSORT:Fiszer, Franciszek 1860 births 1937 deaths People from Warsaw Polish gourmands Polish people of German descent 20th-century Polish philosophers