Jan Brzechwa (), (15 August 1898 – 2 July 1966) was a Polish poet, author and lawyer, known mostly for his contribution to children's literature. He was born Jan Wiktor Lesman to a Polish family of Jewish descent.Brzechwa, Jan (1898–1966)
''The YIVO encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe'', Volume 1. ''

Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day, and became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and operationally autonomous. , Yale Univers ...

'', 2008. .

Early life

Brzechwa was born in

Żmerynka Zhmerynka ( uk, Жмеринка ) is a city in Vinnytsia Oblast ( province) of central Ukraine. Serving as the administrative center of the Zhmerynka Raion (district), the town itself is not a part of the district and is separately incorporat ...

Podolia Podolia or Podilia ( uk, Поділля, Podillia, ; russian: Подолье, Podolye; ro, Podolia; pl, Podole; german: Podolien; be, Падолле, Padollie; lt, Podolė), is a historic region in Eastern Europe, located in the west-centra ...

. His father was a

railway engineer Railway engineering is a multi-faceted engineering discipline dealing with the design, construction and operation of all types of rail transport systems. It encompasses a wide range of engineering disciplines, including civil engineering, com ...

and Jan spent a lot of his childhood travelling around Eastern Poland (" Kresy") with his family. Brzechwa studied at the Jesuit college in Chyrów, (present day

Khyriv Khyriv (, ) is a town in Sambir Raion, Lviv Oblast (region) of Ukraine with a population of around It hosts the administration of Khyriv urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. It became known principally for the celebrated eponymous ...

in Ukraine), and upon moving from

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 officiall ...

, he graduated from the School of Law at the

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 ...

. During the Polish-Soviet War, he volunteered for the 36th Regiment of the Academic Infantry Legion, a formation composed of university students and was decorated for his service. His formal writing debut took place in 1920 by way of various

humor magazine A humor magazine is a magazine specifically designed to deliver humorous content to its readership. These publications often offer satire and parody, but some also put an emphasis on cartoons, caricature, absurdity, One-line joke, one-liners, Aphor ...

s. He worked as a lawyer and attorney for the Polish Society of Authors and Composers (ZAIKS) where he specialized and excelled in

copyright law A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, educatio ...

. Brzechwa was a cousin of another famous Polish poet,

Bolesław Leśmian Bolesław Leśmian (born Bolesław Lesman; January 22, 1877The exact date of his birth is disputed: the act of birth mentions 1877, Leśmian himself used 1878, while the date mentioned on his tombstone is 1879. – November 5, 1937) was a Pol ...

. He was married three times; first to Maria Sunderland, his first cousin once removed and a niece of the renowned Polish artist Celina Sunderland, :pl:Celina Sunderland then to Karolina Lentowa (née Meyer), and finally to Janina Magajewska (1915–1989). His daughter from his first marriage, Krystyna (born 1928), is a painter.

Literary output

''Jan Brzechwa'' was the writer's pseudonym. The name Brzechwa translates into ' fletching' (the tail section of an arrow). His poetry was written mostly in the melodic style of the 8-syllable accentual verse, the most popular rhythmic structure among the Polish stylistic variations.Reinhard Köhler, Gabriel Altmann, Raĭmond Genrikhovich Piotrovskiĭ
''Quantitative linguistics''.
Walter de Gruyter, 2005. . In 1926 he published ''Oblicza zmyślone'' ("Imaginary visages"), his first book of poems. His first set of poems for children ''Tańcowała igła z nitką'' ("Danced the needle with the thread") was published in 1937. Among his most popular works is '' Chrząszcz'' (''The Beetle''), a poem proverbial for the hardest-to-pronounce phrase in

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 Lati ...

, even for adult native Polish speakers. Its first line ''"W Szczebrzeszynie chrząszcz brzmi w trzcinie"'' (''In the town of

Szczebrzeszyn Szczebrzeszyn (; yi, שעברעשין, Shebreshin; uk, Щебрешин, Shchebreshyn) is a city in southeastern Poland in Lublin Voivodeship, in Zamość County, about 20km west of Zamość. From 1975–1999, it was part of the Zamość Voiv ...

a beetle buzzes in the reeds'') is the best known Polish tongue-twister, in which almost all of the consonants make distinct buzzing sounds. Brzechwa is also popular in Poland for having written a number of lyrical children's poems. He was a translator of

Russian literature Russian literature refers to the literature of Russia and its émigrés and to Russian-language literature. The roots of Russian literature can be traced to the Middle Ages, when epics and chronicles in Old East Slavic were composed. By the ...

, translating works by

Aleksandr Pushkin Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (; rus, links=no, Александр Сергеевич ПушкинIn pre-Revolutionary script, his name was written ., r=Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsandr sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈpuʂkʲɪn, ...

Sergey Yesienin Sergei Alexandrovich Yesenin ( rus, Сергей Александрович Есенин, p=sʲɪrˈɡʲej ɐlʲɪkˈsandrəvʲɪtɕ jɪˈsʲenʲɪn; ( 1895 – 28 December 1925), sometimes spelled as Esenin, was a Russian lyric poet. He is one o ...

and

Vladimir Mayakovskiy Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky (, ; rus, Влади́мир Влади́мирович Маяко́вский, , vlɐˈdʲimʲɪr vlɐˈdʲimʲɪrəvʲɪtɕ məjɪˈkofskʲɪj, Ru-Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky.ogg, links=y; – 14 Apr ...

. Brzechwa also wrote a long-running series of children's books based on the adventures of Pan Kleks, the headmaster of a magical academy, and his students. Many of the Kleks books and plot points were made into a series of films in the 1980s, while the poem ''Pchła Szachrajka'' ('' Adventures of a Cheating Flea'') was developed into an animated film in 1989. Many of Brzechwa's texts have been translated into English by

Walter Whipple Walter Whipple (born 1943) is a Teaching Professor Emeritus of Polish in the Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages of Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah. From 1990 to 1993, Whipple served as the president of the Poland Warsaw ...

, but as of 2004 they have yet to be published. Brzechwa died in Warsaw in 1966 and is buried at the Powązki Cemetery, the most famous cemetery in the city.

Works

* 1926 – ''Oblicza zmyślone'' * 1937 – ''Tańcowała igła z nitką'' * 1938 – ''Kaczka Dziwaczka'' * 1946 – '' Akademia Pana Kleksa'' * 1946 – ''Ptasie plotki'' * 1946 – ''Pan Drops i jego trupa'' * 1948 – ''Na wyspach Bergamutach'' * 1948 – ''Opowiedział dzięcioł sowie'' * 1948 – ''Przygody rycerza Szaławiły'' * 1951 – ''Uczymy się chodzić'' * 1953 – ''Teatr Pietruszki'' * 1953 – ''Wagary'' * 1957 – ''Magik'' * 1958 – ''Wyssane z palca'' * 1958 – ''Sto bajek'' * 1961 – ''Podróże pana Kleksa'' * 1964 – ''Śmiechu warte'' * 1965 – ''Od baśni do baśni'' * 1965 – ''Tryumf pana Kleksa''

References

Poem "Na straganie" by Brzechwa in English translation
- Internet Archive copy of the ''accurapid.com''.
Poems by Jan Brzechwa in English translation
at ''paczemoj.blogspot.com''. Retrieved 14 December 2011.

External links

Jan Brzechwa
at Culture.pl
Jan Brzechwa
at poezja.org {{DEFAULTSORT:Brzechwa, Jan 1898 births 1966 deaths People from Zhmerynka 19th-century Polish Jews Polish children's writers Jewish poets University of Warsaw alumni Burials at Powązki Cemetery Children's poets 20th-century Polish poets 20th-century Polish male writers

Early life

Literary output

Works

See also

References

External links