Stefan Grabiński (26 February 1887 – 12 November 1936) was a Polish writer of

fantastic literature The fantastic (french: le fantastique) is a subgenre of literary works characterized by the ambiguous presentation of seemingly supernatural forces. Bulgarian-French structuralist literary critic Tzvetan Todorov originated the concept, characte ...

and horror stories. He is sometimes referred to as the "Polish

Poe Edgar Allan Poe (; Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is widel ...

" or "Polish Lovecraft", although his works are often

surrealistic Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...

or explicitly erotic in a way that sets him apart from both. He was an expert in

parapsychology Parapsychology is the study of alleged psychic phenomena (extrasensory perception, telepathy, precognition, clairvoyance, psychokinesis (also called telekinesis), and psychometry) and other paranormal claims, for example, those related to near ...

, magic and

demonology Demonology is the study of demons within religious belief and myth. Depending on context, it can refer to studies within theology, religious doctrine, or pseudoscience. In many faiths, it concerns the study of a hierarchy of demons. Demons may b ...

and had an interest in the works of the German Expressionist filmmakers. A number of his stories have been translated into English by Miroslaw Lipinski and published as ''The Dark Domain''. His story "Szamota's Mistress" was adapted to film as part of a

B Movie A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double feature ...

trilogy called ''

Evil Streets ''Evil Streets'' is a 1998 American B movie indy horror film co-directed by Terry R. Wickham and Joseph F. Parda, starring SaRenna Lee, Joe Zaso, and Tina Krause. The film is a horror anthology focused around three tales of urban terror, desire, ...

''.

Biography

Grabiński was born in Kamionka Strumiłowa, then part of Poland (present-day Kamianka-Buzka, Ukraine), situated by the

Bug River uk, Західний Буг be, Захо́дні Буг , name_etymology = , image = Wyszkow_Bug.jpg , image_size = 250 , image_caption = Bug River in the vicinity of Wyszków, Poland , map = Vi ...

. His family was well off as his father, Dionizos, was a local judge, but Stefan's childhood was marred because of his proneness to various illnesses. He often read while lying in bed, which made him slightly reclusive and nurtured his bias in favor of dark fantasy and mysticism. After his father's death, the family moved to

Lviv Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukraine ...

. He graduated from the local high school in 1905, then studied

Polish Literature Polish literature is the literary tradition of Poland. Most Polish literature has been written in the Polish language, though other languages used in Poland over the centuries have also contributed to Polish literary traditions, including Latin, ...

and

philology Philology () is the study of language in oral and writing, written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defin ...

at the former

Jan Kazimierz University The University of Lviv ( uk, Львівський університет, Lvivskyi universytet; pl, Uniwersytet Lwowski; german: Universität Lemberg, briefly known as the ''Theresianum'' in the early 19th century), presently the Ivan Franko Na ...

, which is presently the

Ivan Franko National University of Lviv The University of Lviv ( uk, Львівський університет, Lvivskyi universytet; pl, Uniwersytet Lwowski; german: Universität Lemberg, briefly known as the ''Theresianum'' in the early 19th century), presently the Ivan Franko Na ...

. While a student there, he discovered that he had tuberculosis, which was common in his family. As he was an ardent

pantheist Pantheism is the belief that reality, the universe and the cosmos are identical with divinity and a supreme supernatural being or entity, pointing to the universe as being an immanent creator deity still expanding and creating, which has ex ...

, fond of

Christian mysticism Christian mysticism is the tradition of mystical practices and mystical theology within Christianity which "concerns the preparation f the personfor, the consciousness of, and the effect of ..a direct and transformative presence of God" ...

and Eastern religious texts, as well as

Theosophy Theosophy is a religion established in the United States during the late 19th century. It was founded primarily by the Russian Helena Blavatsky and draws its teachings predominantly from Blavatsky's writings. Categorized by scholars of religion a ...

and

, this discovery only enhanced his occult worldview and approach to writing. Upon graduating in 1911, he began work as a secondary school teacher in Lviv. During this time, he also traveled extensively, visiting Austria, Italy, and Romania. From 1917 to 1927, he was a teacher in

Przemyśl Przemyśl (; yi, פשעמישל, Pshemishl; uk, Перемишль, Peremyshl; german: Premissel) is a city in southeastern Poland with 58,721 inhabitants, as of December 2021. In 1999, it became part of the Subcarpathian Voivodeship; it was pr ...

. He first began to write short fiction in 1906 and his mother was his first reader and critic. A collection of short stories, ''Exceptions: In the Dark of Faith'' (), written under the pen name Stefan Żalny (''Żalny'' means 'doleful') became his self-published debut in 1909. These tales have never been judged highly. The general opinion being that his

hyperbolical Hyperbole (; adj. hyperbolic ) is the use of exaggeration as a rhetorical device or figure of speech. In rhetoric, it is also sometimes known as auxesis (literally 'growth'). In poetry and oratory, it emphasizes, evokes strong feelings, and cre ...

, at times anachronistic literary style couldn't be appreciated by the majority of his readers. His second volume of short stories, ''On the Hill of Roses'' (), was published nine years later, and received modest critical approval. However, this book impressed Polish decadent writer and literary critic

Karol Irzykowski 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 f ...

. They became good friends, and Irzykowski supported Grabiński's career. In 1920, Grabiński presented a collection of his mystic railway stories called ''The Motion Demon'' (). Eventually, the following collections of short stories appeared: ''Pilgrim’s Madness'' (, 1920), ''An Incredible Story'' () and ''The Book of Fire'' (, 1922). His longest prose work, ''Passion'' (), written in 1930, was inspired by his trip to Italy, most notably Venice. The symbolic imagery of Grabiński's works was embodied by eerie creatures, such as

incubi An incubus is a demon in male form in folklore that seeks to have Sexuality in Christian demonology, sexual intercourse with sleeping women; the corresponding spirit in female form is called a succubus. In medieval Europe, union with an incubus ...

, witches,

doppelgänger A doppelgänger (), a compound noun formed by combining the two nouns (double) and (walker or goer) (), doppelgaenger or doppelganger is a biologically unrelated look-alike, or a double, of a living person. In fiction and mythology, a doppelg ...

s, spirits of various sorts, and mysterious messages from the underworld. His fiction is usually considered bizarre because it is permeated with magic, occult eroticism,

parapsychological Parapsychology is the study of alleged psychic phenomena (extrasensory perception, telepathy, precognition, clairvoyance, psychokinesis (also called telekinesis), and psychometry) and other paranormal claims, for example, those related to near ...

effects, and Oriental mysticism. A quote from his short story "", is said to reflect his usual state of mind: "I cannot free myself from that strong, commanding voice which speaks to me, or from that mysterious power which pushes aside objects, contemptuous of their size; I am still wearied by endless monotonous roads that led nowhere. That is why I am not a perfect spirit, only an 'insane person', someone who arouses in normal people pity, contempt or fear. But I do not complain. Even like this, I am better off than those of healthy mind.” His tuberculosis worsened and he was forced to spend more time seeking treatment. In 1931, he settled in the resort and spa town of Brzuchowice (now

Briukhovychi Briukhovychi (; ) is an urban-type settlement in Lviv Raion, Lviv Oblast of Ukraine. It belongs to Lviv urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Between 1939 and 1942, and again from 1944 to 1957, Briukhovychi was the center of Briukhovychi ...

) where, despite some recent financial return for his writings, he increasingly fell into obscurity and was abandoned by most of his friends. In 1936, he died in extreme poverty in

and is buried there at . His work was largely forgotten until after World War II, when the literary historian wrote a monograph on his work. Later his stories were promoted by the science-fiction critic, and some appeared in the , published by

Wydawnictwo Literackie Wydawnictwo Literackie (abbreviated WL, lit. "Literary Press") is a Kraków-based Polish publishing house, which has been referred to as one of Poland's "most respected". Company history Since its foundation in 1953, Wydawnictwo Literackie has b ...

Bibliography

Novels

* (''Salamander'') (1924) * (''Baphomet's Shadow'') (1926) * (''The Cloister and the Sea'') (1928) * (''Itongo Island'') (1936)

Short Stories

* "" (''The Tawny Owl'') (1906) * "" (''The Frenzied Farmhouse'') (1908) * "" (''The Vampire'') (1909) * "" (''The Earth's Revenge'') (1909) * "" (''The Curse'') (1909) * "" (''Death Knell'') (1909) * "" (''On the Hill of Roses'') (1909) * "" (''The Orchard of the Dead'') (1909) * "" (''At the Villa by the Sea'') (1912) * "" (''Shadow'') (1913) * "" (''Fumes'') (1913) * "" (''At Sara's House'') (1915) * "" (''The Grey Room'') (1915) * "" (''On a Tangent'') (1918) * "" (''Strabismus'') (1918) * "" (''The Problem of Czelawa'') (1918) * "" (''The Siding'') (1918) * "" (''Projection'') (1919) * "" (''The Lady from the White Castle'') (1919) * "" (''Ksenia'') (1919) * "" (''Engine Driver Grot'') (1919) * "" (''The Wandering Train'') (1919) * "" (''Signals'') (1919) * "" (''The Sloven'') (1919) * "Ultima Thule" (''Ultima Thule'') (1919) * "" (''Saturnin Sektor'') (1920) * "" (''False Alarm'') (1920) * "" (''King Nenufar'') (1920) * "" (''The Miracle of Zywia'') (1921) * "" (''Too Soon") (1921) * "" (''White Wyrak'') (1922) * "" (The Museum of Purgatorial Spirits) (1922) * "" (''The Strange Station'') (1922) * '"" (''Vengeance of the Elementals'') (1922) * "" (''Szamota's Mistress'') (1922) * "" (''The Attic'') (1930) * "" (''Reconciliation'') (1930) * "" (''Nightmare'') (1930) * "" (''Projections'') (1930)

Collections

* (''From the Unusual. In the Shadows of Belief'') (1909) * (''On the Hill of Roses'') (1918) * (''The Motion Demon'') (1919) * (''Mad Pilgrim'') (1920) * (''An Eerie Tale'') (1922) * (''The Book of Fire'') (1922) * (''Passion'') (1930)

Plays

* (''Dark Forces'') * (''All-Souls' Day'')

Titles in English

Translated by Mirosław Lipinski: * ''On the Hill of Roses'', Hieroglyphic Press (2012) * ''The Dark Domain'', Dedalus Classics (2013) * ''The Motion Demon'', CreateSpace (2013) * ''Passion'', NoHo Press (2014) Translated by Wiesiek Powaga: * ''In Sarah's House'', CB Editions (2007)

References

External links

*
Page at Internet Speculative Fiction Database
*

Grabinski on Facebook

101 Weird Writers #45 — Stefan Grabiński

Stefan Grabiński

In search of Stefan Grabinski

China Miéville bemoans the dearth of translations of Stefan Grabinski's pioneering horror fiction
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grabinski, Stefan 1887 births 1936 deaths 20th-century deaths from tuberculosis Polish horror writers Polish male novelists Polish male short story writers Polish short story writers 20th-century Polish novelists 20th-century short story writers 20th-century Polish male writers Tuberculosis deaths in Ukraine Weird fiction writers