Jerzy Szaniawski (

Zegrzynek Zegrzynek is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Serock, within Legionowo County, Masovian Voivodeship, in east-central Poland. It lies approximately south of Serock, north-east of Legionowo, and north of Warsaw. The village has ...

, 10 February 1886 – 16 March 1970,

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

) was a Polish writer, playwright, and essayist; an elected member of the prestigious

Polish Academy of Literature The Polish Academy of Literature ( pl, Polska Akademia Literatury, PAL) was one of the most important state institutions of literary life in the Second Polish Republic, operating between 1933 and 1939 with the headquarters in Warsaw. It was foun ...

in the interwar period. He is best remembered for his series of short stories about the fictitious Professor Tutka, published in daily press in postwar Poland. During Stalinism his writing was temporarily banned as "ideologically adverse".Monika Mokrzycka-Pokora
Jerzy Szaniawski. Biography.
''Culture.pl''. Retrieved 19 December 2011.

Life and artistic career

Szaniawski was born into a family of

Polish landed gentry Polish landed gentry ( pl, ziemiaństwo, ziemianie, from ''ziemia'', "land") was a social group or class of hereditary landowners who held manorial estates. Historically, ''ziemianie'' consisted of hereditary nobles (''szlachta'') and landed com ...

at an estate in Zegrzynek in east-central Poland under foreign partitions. His parents belonged to a local cultural elite visited by writers such as

Maria Konopnicka Maria Konopnicka (; ; 23 May 1842 – 8 October 1910) was a Polish poet, novelist, children's writer, translator, journalist, critic, and activist for women's rights and for Polish independence. She used pseudonyms, including ''Jan Sawa''. She ...

and

Konrad Prószyński Konrad Prószyński (19 February 1851 – 8 July 1908), ''See also:''&nbs Google translate pen name , was a Polish writer, editor, author of primers (textbooks), editor-in-chief of '' Gazeta Świąteczna'' (''Holiday Gazette''); the founder ...

. The estate was nationalized after World War II, but the actual manor remained his until the end of his life. Szaniawski went to school in Warsaw and studied agriculture in

Lausanne , neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR ...

, France, before returning there. He debuted in 1912 with a series of short novellas published in ''Kurier Warszawski'' and in a satirical weekly ''Sowizdrzał''. The stories were soon collected in his volume ''Łgarze pod Złotą Kotwicą'' (Liars under a Gold Anchor, 1928). His first play – a comedy entitled ''Murzyn'' (1917) – staged by Teatr Polski in Warsaw turned out to be a commercial failure; but his friend and director

Aleksander Zelwerowicz Aleksander Zelwerowicz (14 August 1877 in Lublin – 18 June 1955 in Warsaw) was a Polish actor, director, theatre president and a teacher. He received the Order of Polonia Restituta and is one of the Polish Righteous among the Nations.

took it to

Juliusz Słowacki Theatre Juliusz Słowacki Theatre ( pl, Teatr im. Juliusza Słowackiego w Krakowie) is a 19th-century Eclectic theatre-opera house in the heart of Kraków, Poland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Erected in 1893, it was modeled after some of the best ...

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

the very same year, where it became a success, staged by Sosnowski with the renowned actress Irena Solska. Since then, his plays were performed regularly by many Polish theatres. In the 1920s Szaniawski wrote a whole series of stage plays, notably: ''Papierowy kochanek'' (Paper-made Lover, 1920), ''Ewa'' (1921), ''Lekkoduch'' (Trifler, 1923) performed by ''Reduta''; as well as ''Ptak'' (Bird, 1923), ''Żeglarz'' (Sailor, 1925), and ''Adwokat i róże'' (Attorney and roses, 1929) which won the national literary prize a year later. He published his only full-size novel entitled ''Miłość i rzeczy poważne'' (Love and Other Serious Matters) in 1924. Szaniawski moved to Warsaw during World War II, expelled from the territories annexed by Nazi Germany. He was active in Polish resistance and in 1944 was temporarily arrested by Gestapo.

Later years and controversy surrounding his death

After the war, Szaniawski resided in Kraków for a time, where he wrote his famous play ''Dwa teatry'' (Two Theatres) in 1946. It premiered there at the ''Teatr Żołnierza Polskiego'', with set-design by

Tadeusz Kantor Tadeusz Kantor (6 April 1915 – 8 December 1990) was a Polish painter, assemblage and Happenings artist, set designer and theatre director. Kantor is renowned for his revolutionary theatrical performances in Poland and abroad. Laureate of ...

. Until the end of Stalinism in Poland, it was his most frequently performed play. At 76, Szaniawski married a fine-art painter Anita Szatkowska, who was some twenty years younger and suffering from a mental disorder. Documentary ''Errata do biografii.''
''2011 Telewizja Polska S.A.'' Directed by Antoni Nykowski. According to witness accounts, Szaniawska (''née'' Szatkowska) starved and abused her husband physically, fed him dissolved plaster as "medicine", and isolated him entirely from the world, until his death in 1970.Joanna Derkaczew
UWAGA! ZŁE PSY.
''

Gazeta Wyborcza ''Gazeta Wyborcza'' (; ''The Electoral Gazette'' in English) is a Polish daily newspaper based in Warsaw, Poland. It is the first Polish daily newspaper after the era of " real socialism" and one of Poland's newspapers of record, covering the ...

'', 6 March 2006. It is widely assumed that it was she who set his country estate on fire in

in 1977, causing the death of two squatters locked inside. She was taken to a mental hospital in

Tworki Tworki is a district of Pruszków, a town on the outskirts of Warsaw, Poland. It is famous for the large psychiatric hospital, which opened in 1891 and is still operating to this day as a part of the Medical University of Warsaw. It is the sit ...

but escaped. She was apprehended again and placed in a more secure mental ward in

, where she died in 1991. Beware – the dogs!
''Teatr na Woli'' (Theatre of

Wola Wola (, ) is a district in western Warsaw, Poland, formerly the village of Wielka Wola, incorporated into Warsaw in 1916. An industrial area with traditions reaching back to the early 19th century, it underwent a transformation into an office (co ...

District) 8 April 2010. ''Warsaw Culture and Events'' listing. Szaniawski's tumultuous marriage was described in a 2006 play by Remigiusz Grzela entitled ''Uwaga, złe psy!'' (Beware of Bad Dogs!), staged by the ''Teatr Wytwórnia'' in Warsaw and again by ''Teatr na Woli'' in 2008. The play by Grzela was awarded the Kontrapunkt '07 prize and the prize of Polish Radio Wrocław."Uwaga, złe psy!" Remigiusza Grzeli w Teatrze Studio.
''Urząd m. st. Warszawy''. Retrieved 19 December 2011.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Szaniawski, Jerzy 1886 births 1970 deaths Polish male writers Members of the Polish Academy of Literature Recipients of the Order of Polonia Restituta People from Legionowo County