Leszek Engelking (2 February 1955
– 22 October 2022) was a Polish poet, short story writer, novelist, translator, literary critic, essayist, Polish philologist, and literary academic, scholar, and lecturer.
Engelking translated a vast amount of literature into Polish, from
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
,
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
,
Russian
Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including:
*Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
,
Ukrainian
Ukrainian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Ukraine
* Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe
* Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine
* So ...
,
Belarusian,
Slovak but in particular from
Czech
Czech may refer to:
* Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe
** Czech language
** Czechs, the people of the area
** Czech culture
** Czech cuisine
* One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus'
Places
* Czech, ...
.
Biography
Education, editorial, and academic career
Engelking was born in
Bytom in 1955 and spent his childhood in
Upper Silesia
Upper Silesia ( pl, Górny Śląsk; szl, Gůrny Ślůnsk, Gōrny Ślōnsk; cs, Horní Slezsko; german: Oberschlesien; Silesian German: ; la, Silesia Superior) is the southeastern part of the historical and geographical region of Silesia, locate ...
.
In 1979, Engelking graduated from
Warsaw University
The University of Warsaw ( pl, Uniwersytet Warszawski, la, Universitas Varsoviensis) is a public university in Warsaw, Poland. Established in 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country offering 37 different fields of ...
, he received his doctorate in 2002 and postdoctoral degree in 2013. From 1984 to 1995, he was a member of an editorial staff of "
Literatura na Świecie
''Literatura na Świecie'' (''World Literature'') was, during the times of the Polish People's Republic, one of the most widely read and sought after periodicals in Poland. The magazine was started in 1971. Its headquarters is in Warsaw. In the 197 ...
" ("Literature in the World"), a Polish monthly devoted to foreign literature. From 1997 to 1998, he was a lecturer at Warsaw University and a visiting professor at
Palacký University, Olomouc (Czech Republic). He taught at the
University of Łódź
The University of Łódź ( Polish: ''Uniwersytet Łódzki'', Latin: ''Universitas Lodziensis'') is a public research university founded in 1945 in Łódź, Poland, as a continuation of three higher education institutions functioning in Łódź i ...
.
Literary Memberships
Engelking was a member of
Association of Polish Writers since 1989,
the
Polish PEN Club since 2000,
and of the
Société Europeénne de Culture since 1994.
Engelking was also an associate of the American journal ''Paideuma'' (which is devoted to
Ezra Pound), the Czech journal ''Slavia'', and the Polish monthly ''Tygiel Kultury''.
Poetic career
He has published collections of poems:
* ''Autobus do hotelu Cytera'' (''A Bus to the Cythera Hotel'', 1979)
* ''Haiku własne i cudze'' (''Haiku by Myself and Others'', 1991)
* ''Mistrzyni kaligrafii i inne wiersze'' (''The Mistress of Calligraphy and Other Poems'', 1994)
* ''Dom piąty'' (''The Fifth House'', 1997)
* ''I inne wiersze'' (''And Other Poems'', 2000; new and selected poems)
* ''Muzeum dzieciństwa'' (''Museum of Childhood'', 2011)
* ''Komu kibicują umarli?'', (''For Which Team Do the Deceased Root?'', 2013)
A selection of his poems have appeared in
Ukrainian
Ukrainian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Ukraine
* Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe
* Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine
* So ...
translation (''Vid ciogho ne vmirayut’/''You Can't Die from This; 1997, ), as well as in
Czech
Czech may refer to:
* Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe
** Czech language
** Czechs, the people of the area
** Czech culture
** Czech cuisine
* One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus'
Places
* Czech, ...
(''Jiné básně a jiné básně''/''Other Poems and Other Poems''; 1998, ) and
Slovak (''Zanechala si odtlačky prstov na mojej koži''/''You have Left Finger-Marks on My Skin''; 2005, ). A small collection of his poems was published in
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
(''Museo de la infancia''/''Museum of Childhood''; 2010, ; depósito legal Z-42-2010).
Short story and monograph writer career
Engelking's book of short stories ''Szczęście i inne prozy'' (''Good Fortune and Other Stories'') appeared in 2007, .
Engelking published the following monographs: ''Vladimir Nabokov'' (1989, ), ''Vladimir Nabokov - podivuhodný kouzelník'' (1997, in
Czech
Czech may refer to:
* Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe
** Czech language
** Czechs, the people of the area
** Czech culture
** Czech cuisine
* One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus'
Places
* Czech, ...
, ) and ''Chwyt metafizyczny. Vladimir Nabokov - estetyka z sankcją wyższej rzeczywistości'' (2011, ''The Metaphysical Device: Vladmir Nabokov – Aesthetics with the Sanction of Higher Reality''), ''Surrealism, underground, postmodernizm. Szkice o literaturze czeskiej'' (2001, ), ''Codzienność i mit. Poetyka, programy i historia Grupy 42 w kontekstach dwudziestowiecznej awangardy i postawangardy'' (2005, ), ''Nowe Mity. Twórczość Jáchyma Topola'' (2016, ''The New Myths. The Literary Oeuvre of Jáchym Topol'', ), and ''Bytom w literaturze'' (2018, ''Bytom in Literature'', ).
Engelking edited the anthology of British and American poetry ''Wyspy na jeziorze'' (1988, ''The Lake Isles''), the anthology of Czech poetry ''Maść przeciw poezji'' (2008, ''Ointment against Poetry''), the selection from the works of three contemporary Slovak poets,
Oleg Pastier,
Karol Chmel, and
Ivan Kolenič, ''Oko za ząb'' (2006, ''An Eye for a Tooth'' ), as well as the anthology of imagist poetry ''Obraz i wir'' (2016, ''Image and Vortex'', Andrzej Szuba was a joint editor of the book, ).
Literary translator career
He has translated works by Nabokov,
Daniela Hodrova,
Jáchym Topol
Jáchym Topol (born 4 August 1962) is a Czech poet, novelist, musician and journalist who became a laureate of the Czech State Award for Literature in October 2017 for his novel ''Sensitive Man''.
Life
Jáchym Topol was born in Prague, Czech ...
,
Ezra Pound,
Miroslav Holub,
Charles Bukowski
Henry Charles Bukowski ( ; born Heinrich Karl Bukowski, ; August 16, 1920 – March 9, 1994) was a German-American poet, novelist, and short story writer. His writing was influenced by the social, cultural, and economic ambience of his adopted ...
,
Christopher Reid,
Nikolay Gumilyov
Nikolay Stepanovich Gumilyov ( rus, Никола́й Степа́нович Гумилёв, p=nʲɪkɐˈlaj sʲtʲɪˈpanəvʲɪtɕ ɡʊmʲɪˈlʲɵf, a=Nikolay Styepanovich Gumilyov.ru.vorb.oga; April 15 NS 1886 – August 26, 1921) was a poe ...
,
Petr Mikeš,
Ivan Wernisch
Ivan Wernisch (born 18 June 1942) is a Czech poet, editor and a collage artist. He studied Ceramics Secondary school in Carlsbad (he left in 1959) and has since done many jobs, mostly manual. In 1961, after publishing his debut poetry book, he ...
,
Ivan Blatný Ivan Blatný (; 21 December 1919 in Brno, Czechoslovakia – 5 August 1990 in Colchester, United Kingdom) was a Czech poet and a member of '' Skupina 42 (Group 42).
Life
Blatný, the son of the writer Lev Blatný, was a member of the ''Skupina 42' ...
,
Agneta Pleijel
Agneta Pleijel (born 1940) is a Swedish novelist, poet, playwright, journalist and literary critic. Among her plays are ''Ordning härskar i Berlin'' from 1979. Among her novels are ''Vindspejare'' from 1987 and ''Drottningens chirurg'' from 200 ...
,
Oldřich Wenzl,
Richard Caddel,
Jaroslav Seifert
Jaroslav Seifert (; 23 September 1901 – 10 January 1986) was a Czech writer, poet and journalist. Seifert was awarded the 1984 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his poetry which endowed with freshness, sensuality and rich inventiveness provides ...
,
Václav Burian,
Egon Bondy
Egon Bondy, born Zbyněk Fišer (20 January 1930 in Prague – 9 April 2007 in Bratislava), was a Czech philosopher, writer, and poet, one of the leading personalities of the Prague underground.
In the late 1940s, Bondy was active in a surreal ...
,
Maximilian Voloshin
Maximilian Alexandrovich Kirienko-Voloshin (russian: Максимилиа́н Алекса́ндрович Кирие́нко-Воло́шин; May 28, Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates">O.S._May_16.html" ;"title="Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ...
,
David A. Carrión,
Gerardo Beltrán,
W.B. Yeats,
Pavol Országh Hviezdoslav
Pavol Országh Hviezdoslav (2 February 1849 - 8 November 1921) was a Slovak poet, dramatist, translator, and for a short time, member of the Czechoslovak parliament. Originally, he wrote in a traditional style, but later became influenced by pa ...
,
Jiří Kolář,
Karel Čapek
Karel Čapek (; 9 January 1890 – 25 December 1938) was a Czech writer, playwright and critic. He has become best known for his science fiction, including his novel '' War with the Newts'' (1936) and play '' R.U.R.'' (''Rossum's Universal ...
,
Basil Bunting
Basil Cheesman Bunting (1 March 1900 – 17 April 1985) was a British modernist poet whose reputation was established with the publication of '' Briggflatts'' in 1966, generally regarded as one of the major achievements of the modernist traditio ...
,
Amy Lowell
Amy Lawrence Lowell (February 9, 1874 – May 12, 1925) was an American poet of the imagist school, which promoted a return to classical values. She posthumously won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1926.
Life
Amy Lowell was born on Febru ...
,
Hilda Doolittle,
William Carlos Williams
William Carlos Williams (September 17, 1883 – March 4, 1963) was an American poet, writer, and physician closely associated with modernism and imagism.
In addition to his writing, Williams had a long career as a physician practicing both pedia ...
,
Langston Hughes,
Kerry Shawn Keys, sor
Juana Ines de la Cruz,
Federico García Lorca
Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca (5 June 1898 – 19 August 1936), known as Federico García Lorca ( ), was a Spanish poet, playwright, and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblemat ...
,
Abel Murcia,
Sergey Zavyalov,
Iryna Zhylenko
Irina (Iraida) Volodymyrivna Zhylenko (28 April 1941 – 3 August 2013), a Ukraine, Ukrainian poet, was the a wife of Volodymyr Drozd. She was born in Kyiv and died in August 2013 at the age of 72.
Biography
In 1964, she graduated from the Tar ...
,
Lina Kostenko
Lina Vasylivna Kostenko ( uk, Ліна Василівна Костенко; born 19 March 1930) is a Ukrainian poet, journalist, writer, publisher, and former Soviet dissident. A founder and leading representative of the Sixtiers poetry movem ...
, and
Andrei Khadanovich.
Engelking's selection of short stories by
Ladislav Klíma
Ladislav Klíma (22 August 1878 – 19 April 1928), was a Czech philosopher and novelist influenced by George Berkeley, Schopenhauer and Nietzsche. His philosophy is referred to varyingly as existentialism and subjective idealism.
Life
Ladis ...
appeared in 2004 (''Jak będzie po śmierci''
'How It Will Be after Death'', his translation of
Michal Ajvaz’s book of poems, short stories and a novel was published in 2005 (''Morderstwo w hotelu Intercontinental. Powrót starego warana. Inne miasto'' ''The Murder in the Intercontinental Hotel. The Return of the Old Comodo Dragon. Other City''). Ajvaz's novel ''Voyage to the South'' in his translation appeared in 2016 (''Podróż na Południe'').
Personal life and death
Engelking's son,
Wojciech Engelking is also a writer.
Leszek privately was a fan of
motorcycle speedway,
football team
Polonia Bytom
Polonia Bytom () is a Polish football club based in Bytom, founded in 1920, two times Polish Champions. The team currently plays in the III liga (as of 2022–23).
History Beginnings
Polonia was founded on 4 January 1920 in the Upper Silesia ...
,
liked
lager beer
Lager () is beer which has been brewed and conditioned at low temperature. Lagers can be pale, amber, or dark. Pale lager is the most widely consumed and commercially available style of beer. The term "lager" comes from the German for "storage ...
,
and
Armani
Giorgio Armani S.p.A. (), commonly known as Armani, is an Italian luxury fashion house founded in Milan by Giorgio Armani which designs, manufactures, distributes and retails haute couture, ready-to-wear, leather goods, shoes, accessories, and ...
perfumes.
Engelking died on 22 October 2022, at the age of 67.
Honours
* The Award of "
Literatura na Świecie
''Literatura na Świecie'' (''World Literature'') was, during the times of the Polish People's Republic, one of the most widely read and sought after periodicals in Poland. The magazine was started in 1971. Its headquarters is in Warsaw. In the 197 ...
" for translation (1989, 2003, 2009, 2018),
* The Award of Polish Translators’ and Interpreters’ Society (2000)
* Premia Bohemica (the Czech prize; 2003)
* Polish PEN Club Award (2010)
References
External links
Leszek Engelking - Łódź University, Poland Leszek Engelking - www.rasyk.lt Leszek Engelking - "Fakta ze života Bohumila Hrabala", Listy (Olomouc) 5/2004*
ttp://jacketmagazine.com/22/caddel.html Two Engelking's poems in English translation
Sources
*
Barbara Tyszkiewicz, ''Leszek Engelking''.
n:''Polscy pisarze i badacze literatury przełomu XX i XXI wieku'', vol. 2, ed.
Alicja Szałagan, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw 2024. (in Polish)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Engelking, Leszek
1955 births
2022 deaths
Polish poets
Polish male short story writers
Polish short story writers
Polish translators
English–Polish translators
Recipients of the Decoration of Honor Meritorious for Polish Culture
Translators from Czech
Translators from Slovak
Translators from Spanish
Translators from Russian
Translators from Belarusian
Translators from English
Translators from Ukrainian
Translators from Polish
Translators to Polish
People from Bytom
University of Warsaw alumni
Polish male poets