Julian Przyboś (5 March 1901 – 6 October 1970) was a Polish poet, essayist and translator, one of the most important poets of the Kraków Avant-Garde.
Life
Przyboś was born in
Gwoźnica near
Strzyżów to a peasant family. From 1912, he attended the
Konarski Secondary School in Rzeszów.
A supporter of socialist ideals, in 1920 he volunteered for the Polish Army during the
Polish–Soviet War
The Polish–Soviet War (14 February 1919 – 18 March 1921) was fought primarily between the Second Polish Republic and the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, following World War I and the Russian Revolution.
After the collapse ...
. In 1920–1923 he studied
Polish studies
Polish studies, Polish philology or Polonistics (, or ''polonistyka'') is the field of humanities that researches, documents and disseminates the Polish language and Polish literature in both historic and present-day forms.
The history of Polish ...
at the
Jagiellonian University
The Jagiellonian University (, UJ) is a public research university in Kraków, Poland. Founded in 1364 by Casimir III the Great, King Casimir III the Great, it is the oldest university in Poland and one of the List of oldest universities in con ...
in Kraków. He was one of the contributors of ''
Zwrotnica'', magazine of the avant-garde artists in Kraków.
Przyboś worked as a teacher in
Sokal (1923–1925),
Chrzanów (1925–1927), and
Cieszyn
Cieszyn ( , ; ; ) is a border town in southern Poland on the east bank of the Olza River, and the administrative seat of Cieszyn County, Silesian Voivodeship. The town has 33,500 inhabitants ( and lies opposite Český Těšín in the Czech Repu ...
(1927–1939). In Cieszyn, he published his works in ''
Zaranie Śląskie'' (Silesian Dawn) (1929–1938). He also published in many other magazines before and after
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
.
In December 1939 Przyboś relocated to
Lviv
Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...
. In 1941 he was arrested by the
Gestapo
The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe.
The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...
, the
Nazi German
Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...
secret police. After World War II he became a member of the
Polish Workers' Party, and later of the
Polish United Workers' Party. In 1947–1951 he was a diplomat in
Switzerland
Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...
. Afterward he was director of the
Jagiellonian Library
The Jagiellonian Library (, popular nickname ''Jagiellonka'') is the library of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków and with almost 6.7 million volumes, one of the largest libraries in Poland, serving as a public library, university library an ...
in Kraków. After the
Hungarian Revolution of 1956
The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (23 October – 4 November 1956; ), also known as the Hungarian Uprising, was an attempted countrywide revolution against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic (1949–1989) and the policies caused by ...
, Przyboś left the Polish United Workers' Party.
Works
* ''Śruby'' (1925)
* ''Oburącz'' (1926)
* ''Z ponad'' (also known as ''Sponad'') (1930)
* ''W głąb las'' (1932)
* ''Równanie serca'' (1938)
* ''Póki my żyjemy'' (1944)
* ''Miejsce na ziemi'' (1945)
* ''Czytając Mickiewicza'' (1950)
* ''Rzut pionowy'' (1952) - poetry collection
* ''Najmniej słów. Poezje. Materiały poetyckie. Objaśnienia'' (1955)
* ''Linia i gwar'', vol. 1-2 (1956)
* ''Narzędzie ze światła'' (1958)
* ''Więcej o manifest'' (1962)
* ''Sens poetycki'' (1963)
* ''Na znak'' (1965)
* ''Kwiat nieznany'' (1968)
See also
*
List of Poles
This is a partial list of notable Polish people, Polish or Polish language, Polish-speaking or -writing people. People of partial Polish heritage have their respective ancestries credited.
Physics
*Miedziak Antal
* Czesław Białobrzesk ...
References
*
*
Further reading
*
1901 births
1970 deaths
People from Strzyżów County
Writers from the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria
Polish Workers' Party politicians
Polish United Workers' Party members
Members of the State National Council
Diplomats of the Polish People's Republic
Polish essayists
Polish male writers
Polish male essayists
20th-century Polish translators
20th-century Polish poets
20th-century Polish essayists
Jagiellonian University alumni
Polish people of the Polish–Soviet War
Officers of the Order of Polonia Restituta
Recipients of the Order of the Banner of Work
Recipients of the Gold Cross of Merit (Poland)
Recipients of the State Award Badge (Poland)
Recipients of the Meritorious Activist of Culture badge
Recipients of the commemorative badge Orlęta
Recipients of the Medal of the 10th Anniversary of the People's Republic of Poland
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