Tadeusz Dołęga-Mostowicz
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Tadeusz Dołęga-Mostowicz (; 10 August 1898 – 20 September 1939) was a Polish writer, journalist and author of over a dozen popular novels. One of his best known works, which in Poland became a byword for fortuitous careerism, was ''
The Career of Nicodemus Dyzma ''The Career of Nicodemus Dyzma'' (Polish title: ''Kariera Nikodema Dyzmy'') is a 1932 Polish bestselling political novel by Tadeusz Dołęga-Mostowicz. It was his first major literary success, with immediate material rewards, prompting Mostowi ...
'' ( pl, Kariera Nikodema Dyzmy, 1932). Literary historians believe the book inspired the 1971 novel ''
Being There ''Being There'' is a 1979 American satire film directed by Hal Ashby. Based on the 1970 novel of the same name by Jerzy Kosiński, it was adapted for the screen by Kosiński and the uncredited Robert C. Jones. The film stars Peter Sellers an ...
'' by Jerzy Kosiński, with some charging Kosiński with plagiarism, which sparked considerable controversy in the West.


Life and work

Tadeusz Mostowicz, the son of a wealthy Polish lawyer in the age of partitions, was born on 10 August 1898 at his family's village of Okuniewo near
Vitebsk Vitebsk or Viciebsk (russian: Витебск, ; be, Ві́цебск, ; , ''Vitebsk'', lt, Vitebskas, pl, Witebsk), is a city in Belarus. The capital of the Vitebsk Region, it has 366,299 inhabitants, making it the country's fourth-largest c ...
in the
Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
(now
Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...
). After graduating from ''gimnazjum'' (high school) in
Vilna Vilnius ( , ; see also #Etymology and other names, other names) is the capital and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the munic ...
(now
Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...
, Lithuania), then also in the Russian Empire, in 1915 Tadeusz embarked upon law studies at the
University of Kyiv Kyiv University or Shevchenko University or officially the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv ( uk, Київський національний університет імені Тараса Шевченка), colloquially known as KNU ...
while the First World War raged on in
Central Europe Central Europe is an area of Europe between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, based on a common historical, social and cultural identity. The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) between Catholicism and Protestantism significantly shaped the a ...
. He befriended numerous fellow members of the Polish diaspora and became involved in a local underground group of the '' Polska Organizacja Wojskowa'' (Polish Military Organization, abbreviated ''"POW"'' in Polish).Prof. dr hab. Anna Martuszewska
Tadeusz Dołęga Mostowicz. Biography.
Wirtualna Biblioteka Literatury Polskiej (Virtual Library of Polish Literature). Retrieved 18 February 2016.
After the Russian Revolution, Okuniewo was seized by Bolshevik Russia, and Mostowicz's family moved back to newly reborn Poland, where they bought a small village. Also in 1918, Tadeusz 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 joined the
Polish Army The Land Forces () are the land forces of the Polish Armed Forces. They currently contain some 62,000 active personnel and form many components of the European Union and NATO deployments around the world. Poland's recorded military history stre ...
. He fought as a volunteer in the Polish-Soviet War of 1919–21, and was demobilized in 1922. While working at printing houses, Mostowicz sent short stories to newspapers and was finally discovered to be a talented reporter. From 1925 he was on the staff of the daily ''
Rzeczpospolita () is the official name of Poland and a traditional name for some of its predecessor states. It is a compound of "thing, matter" and "common", a calque of Latin ''rés pública'' ( "thing" + "public, common"), i.e. ''republic'', in Engli ...
'' (''The Republic''), one of the most influential newspapers in Poland. About that time he adopted the pen name ''"Dołęga"'', after his mother's ''Dołęga'' coat of arms. While a journalist, he began publishing short stories and pamphlets, many of which achieved considerable popularity. In 1928 he quit his journalistic job and devoted himself full-time to writing fiction. The following year he finished his first novel, and in 1930 published it as ''Ostatnia brygada'' (''The Last Brigade''). However, it was not until 1932 that he became famous as the author of '' Kariera Nikodema Dyzmy'' (''The Career of Nicodemus Dyzma''), the most popular of his books. Initially serialized in newspapers, the novel proved a major success. Thereafter Mostowicz wrote an average of 2 novels a year. His monthly income is estimated to have exceeded 15,000 zlotys, some 2,800 1939
US dollar The United States dollar ( symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the officia ...
s. During the
Invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week aft ...
in 1939, Dołęga-Mostowicz was mobilized and served as commanding officer of an outpost defending a bridge over the Cheremosh River at the town of
Kuty Kuty ( ua, Кути translit. ''Kuty'', german: Kutten, pl, Kuty, yi, קיטעוו translit. ''Kitev'', ro, Cuturi) is an urban-type settlement in Ukraine, on the Cheremosh river, in the Kosiv Raion of Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast. It is one of the ...
in southeastern Poland. On 22 September 1939, he was killed in a skirmish with the advancing Soviet
Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army ( Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, afte ...
. Resulting from this, most of his books were banned in Stalinist Poland after the communist takeover.Zbigniew Żmigrodzki, ''Cenzura PRL'', Posłowie; Wrocław 2002, page 10. In 1978 his remains were exhumed and on 24 November interred at Warsaw's
Powązki Cemetery Powązki Cemetery (; pl, Cmentarz Powązkowski), also known as Stare Powązki ( en, Old Powązki), is a historic necropolis located in Wola district, in the western part of Warsaw, Poland. It is the most famous cemetery in the city and one of t ...
.


Film adaptations

Most of his novels have been filmed:


See also

*
Politics in fiction This is a list of fictional stories in which politics features as an important plot element. Passing mentions are omitted from this list. Written works * '' The Republic'' (ca. 360 BCE) by Plato * ''Panchatantra'' (ca. 200 ...
*
List of Poles This is a partial list of notable Polish or Polish-speaking or -writing people. People of partial Polish heritage have their respective ancestries credited. Science Physics * Czesław Białobrzeski * Andrzej Buras * Georges Charpa ...


References

*
Kariera Nikodema Dyzmy online
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dolega-Mostowicz, Tadeusz 1898 births 1939 deaths People from Hlybokaye District People from Disnensky Uyezd Polish male novelists 20th-century Polish novelists 20th-century Polish male writers Polish Army officers Polish people of the Polish–Soviet War Polish military personnel killed in World War II Burials at Powązki Cemetery 20th-century Polish journalists