Antoni Słonimski (15 November 1895 – 4 July 1976) was a Polish poet, artist, journalist, playwright and

prose Prose is a form of written or spoken language that follows the natural flow of speech, uses a language's ordinary grammatical structures, or follows the conventions of formal academic writing. It differs from most traditional poetry, where the ...

writer, president of the Union of Polish Writers in 1956–1959 during the

Polish October Polish October (), also known as October 1956, Polish thaw, or Gomułka's thaw, marked a change in the politics of Poland in the second half of 1956. Some social scientists term it the Polish October Revolution, which was less dramatic than the ...

, known for his devotion to social justice. Słonimski was the grandson of Hayyim Selig Slonimski, the founder of "

ha-Tsefirah ''Ha-Tsfira'' ( he, הצפירה) was a Hebrew-language newspaper published in Poland in 1862 and 1874–1931. History The first issue of ''Ha-Tsfira'' appeared in Warsaw, Congress Poland, in 1862, edited by Chaim Selig Slonimski. ''Ha-Tsfira'' w ...

"- the first Hebrew weekly with an emphasis on the sciences. His father, an ophthalmologist, converted to Christianity when he married a Catholic woman. Słonimski was born in

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 ...

and baptized and raised as a Christian. Słonimski studied at the

Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw ( pl, Akademia Sztuk Pięknych w Warszawie) is a public university of visual arts and applied arts located in the Polish capital. The Academy traces its history back to the Department of Arts founded at the Warsaw ...

. In 1919 he co-founded the ''

Skamander Skamander was a Polish group of experimental poets founded in 1918 by Julian Tuwim, Antoni Słonimski, Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz, Kazimierz Wierzyński and Jan Lechoń. Initially unnamed, in December 1919 it adopted the name ''Skamander'', af ...

'' group of experimental poets with Julian Tuwim and

Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz Jarosław Leon Iwaszkiewicz, also known under his literary pseudonym Eleuter (20 February 1894 – 2 March 1980), was a Polish writer, poet, essayist, dramatist and translator.Bartłomiej Szleszyński, Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz. 2003 Culture.plJaros ...

. In 1924 he travelled to Palestine and Brasil and in 1932 to the Soviet Union. Słonimski spent the war years in exile in England and France, returning to Poland in 1951. He worked as contributor to popular periodicals: ''Nowa Kultura'' (1950–1962), ''Szpilki'' (1953–73) and ''Przegląd Kulturalny''. He was an active anti-Stalinist and supporter of liberalization. In 1964 he was one of the signatories and the main author of the so-called

Letter of 34 ''Letter of 34'' – two-sentence protest letter of Polish intellectuals against censorship in Communist Poland, addressed to the Prime Minister Józef Cyrankiewicz, delivered on 14 March 1964 to by Antoni Słonimski. The name refers to the numb ...

to Prime Minister

Józef Cyrankiewicz Józef Adam Zygmunt Cyrankiewicz (; 23 April 1911 – 20 January 1989) was a Polish Socialist (PPS) and after 1948 Communist politician. He served as premier of the Polish People's Republic between 1947 and 1952, and again for 16 years between ...

regarding freedom of culture. Słonimski died on 4 July 1976 in a car accident in Warsaw.

Works

* ''Sonety'' (1918) * ''Parada'' (1920) * ''Godzina poezji'' (1923) * ''Torpeda czasu'' (Time Torpedo, 1926), a science fiction novel influenced by H.G. Wells Patrick Parrinder, John S. Partington, ''The Reception of H.G. Wells in Europe''. Continuum, 2005. , (p. 140) * ''Droga na wschód'' (Road to the East; 1924), a collection of poems inspired by his travels to Palestine and Brazil * ''Z dalekiej podróży'' (1926) * ''Rodzina'' (Family; 1933), a comedy about two brothers: a communist, and a fascist * ''Okno bez krat'' (1935) * ''Dwa końce świata'' (Two Ends of the World; 1937), a novel predicting Warsaw's destruction by a Nazi dictator * ''Alarm'' (1940) * ''Wiek klęski'' (1945) * ''Nowe wiersze'' (1959) * ''Wiersze 1958–1963'' (1963) * ''138 wierszy'' (1973) Science Fiction * ''Torpeda czasu'' (1924) Warszawa: Towarzystwo Wydawnicze "Ignis" (E. Wende i S-ka); drukowana odcinkach w drugiej połowie 1923 roku na łamach Kuriera Polskiego (nr 281–352), powojenne wydanie Warszawa: Czytelnik, 1967 (z przedmową Stanisława Lema) * ''Dwa końce świata'' (1937) Warszawa: J. Przeworski, powojenne wydanie Warszawa: Książka i Wiedza, 1991

References

* Barry Keane, ''Skamander. The Poets and Their Poetry'' (2004), Agade; Warsaw, .

Sources

"Antoni Slonimski." Encyclopædia Britannica Online

External links

*
Profile of Antoni Słonimski
at Culture.pl 1895 births 1976 deaths Writers from Warsaw People from Warsaw Governorate Polish people of Jewish descent Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw alumni Recipients of the Order of Polonia Restituta Road incident deaths in Poland 20th-century Polish poets 20th-century Polish male writers Recipients of the State Award Badge (Poland) {{Poland-poet-stub

Works

See also

References

Sources

External links