Karol Irzykowski (23 January 1873 – 2 November 1944) was a Polish writer, literary critic, film theoretician, and chess player. Between 1933–1939 in the Second Polish Republic he was a 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 ...

founded by the decree of the

Council of Ministers A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/ shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or nati ...

Life

Irzykowski was born in Błaszkowa, near

Pilzno Pilzno is a town in Poland, in Subcarpathian Voivodeship, in Dębica County. It has 4,943 inhabitants as of 2018. It is located at the junction of important roads – West-East European E40 Highway, and National Road 73 (''Droga Krajowa nr. 73 ...

. He came from an aristocratic land-owning family that had fallen on hard times. From 1889 to 1893, he studied

Germanistics The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often voc ...

in Lwów (Lemberg). From 1894 to 1895, he worked occasionally as a teacher, but his outspokenness prevented him from obtaining further work in that line. From 1895, he lived in Lwów and worked as a parliamentary and court stenographer. In 1903, he published one of the most original novels of that time, ''Pałuba''. In this highly complex and avantgarde work, he anticipated many innovations made by modern European experimentalists such as

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of ...

Virginia Woolf Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer, considered one of the most important modernist 20th-century authors and a pioneer in the use of stream of consciousness as a narrative device. Woolf was born i ...

William Faulkner William Cuthbert Faulkner (; September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American writer known for his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, based on Lafayette County, Mississippi, where Faulkner spent most o ...

André Gide André Paul Guillaume Gide (; 22 November 1869 – 19 February 1951) was a French author and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature (in 1947). Gide's career ranged from its beginnings in the symbolist movement, to the advent of anticolonialism ...

. The novel has never been translated, and in Poland, it was only truly appreciated in the second half of the 20th century.Karol Irzykowski's Pałuba: A Guidebook to the Future
Colleen Taylor Sen, Slavic and East European Journal, Vol. 17, No. 3 (1973) (Parts of this novel were translated into German language after World War II). In 1908 he moved to

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 ...

, where he held a position as a stenographer and correspondent in the official correspondence office. Irzykowski played in chess tournaments at Lemberg and Kraków, winning against Kohn, von Popiel, Chajes and Ameisen, and drawing against Flamberg. After

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

he moved to

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 ...

, where he headed the ''

Sejm The Sejm (English: , Polish: ), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland ( Polish: ''Sejm Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej''), is the lower house of the bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of ...

'' (parliament) stenographic office. Irzykowski was coworker "Skamander", the ''Wiadomości Literackie'' and in the years 1921 to 1933 of the '' Robotnik''. He raised his voice in many discussions on literature. He provided a theatre column on Polish radio and in the ''Rocznik Literacki'', and was a member of the Polish Literary Academy. At the same time he gave stenography instruction (also in German) to meet living costs. During the

German occupation of Poland German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

, he was working on a novel "Wyspa" ("Island") and was taking part in the cultural life of the underground. His nearly entire manuscript was lost in the

Warsaw Uprising The Warsaw Uprising ( pl, powstanie warszawskie; german: Warschauer Aufstand) was a major World War II operation by the Polish underground resistance to liberate Warsaw from German occupation. It occurred in the summer of 1944, and it was led ...

where Irzykowski was wounded and soon died after release from

Żyrardów Żyrardów is a town and former industrial hub in central Poland with approximately 41,400 inhabitants (2006). It is the capital of Żyrardów County situated in the Masovian Voivodeship (since 1999); previously, it was in Skierniewice Voivodes ...

camp.

Works

*''Pałuba'' he Hag(1903) novel *''Sny Marii Dunin'' he Dreams of Maria Dunin(1903) stories *''Dziesiąta Muza'' he Tenth Muse(1924) film theory *''Walka o treść'' ight for Content(1929) Polemic against

Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz (; 24 February 188518 September 1939), commonly known as Witkacy, was a Polish writer, painter, philosopher, theorist, playwright, novelist, and photographer active before World War I and during the interwar period. ...

*''Beniaminek'' (lampoon on

Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński Tadeusz Kamil Marcjan Żeleński (better known by his pen name, Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński or simply as Boy; 21 December 1874 – 4 July 1941) was a Polish stage writer, poet, critic and, above all, the translator of over 100 French literary classics ...

, 1933) *''Słoń wśród porcelany'' (An Elephant in a China Shop; sketches, 1934) English translations : * « Death of the Cinematograph », ''Film History'', vol. 10, n. 4, 1998, p. 453-458. * « The Tenth Muse (Excerpts) », ''New German Critique'', n. 42, 1987, p. 116–127.

Life

Works

See also

References

Further reading