Józef Czechowicz (15 March 1903 – 9 September 1939) was an
avant-garde
In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...
Polish poet. Known as a nostalgic, catastrophic author, he was also the leader of the literary avant-garde and bohemians in
Lublin
Lublin is List of cities and towns in Poland, the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the centre of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin i ...
.
[Pietrasiewicz, Tomasz and Aleksandra Zińczuk]
"Józef Czechowicz"
''Lublin. Pamięć Miejsca''. For this visionary poet, verse seemed to be a question of imagination; he would play with word consonances, dreamlike associations, musicality, and create picturesque visions.
[Kowalczykowa, Alina (2004). "The Interwar Years – 1918-1939" in: ''Ten Centuries of Polish Literature'', trans. Daniel Sax, p. 222-23. IBL PAN, Warszawa. .] Czechowicz lived and worked in Lublin before moving to Warsaw; he also died in Lublin, a few days 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 ...
had started.
Life
Józef Czechowicz came from a poor family living in Lublin. He was born in a basement flat, which has not survived to these days, at 3 Kapucyńska Street.
His father, Paweł Czechowicz, worked as a janitor and, later, as a meter leader in the Warsaw Bank in Lublin. In 1912, he died due to a severe mental disease. Józef Czechowicz's mother, Małgorzata, née Sułek, was a good-natured person of a tiny posture. 10 years older than her husband, she died in 1936.
[Tomaszewski, Feliks]
"Józef Czechowicz"
''Virtual Library of Polish Literature''. The poet dedicated many of his poems to her. Apart from Józef, Paweł and Małgorzata had three more children: Janek, Katarzyna and Stanisław.
In 1913 Czechowicz went to a Russian primary school in Lublin and graduated from the First Seven-Form City School in 1917. During the
Polish-Soviet War, in 1920, he volunteered to join the Polish Army but later came back home to continue his education. The poet attended the Teacher’s College, the Higher Teacher’s Course in Lublin and completed his education in 1929, graduating from the Institute of Special Pedagogy in Warsaw.
At first, he worked as a teacher in Brasława, Słobódka and Włodzimierz (
Volodymyr-Volynskyi
Volodymyr (, ), previously known as Volodymyr-Volynskyi () from 1944 to 2021, is a small city in Volyn Oblast, northwestern Ukraine. It serves as the administrative centre of Volodymyr Raion and the center of Volodymyr urban hromada. It is one ...
); he also taught in a special school in Lublin, whose manager he eventually became.
While his first volume of verse, ''kamień'' (''stone'') was printed in 1927, it is considered that he officially made his debut, publishing in the first issue of ''Reflektor'' the poetic prose story "Opowieść o papierowej koronie" (''A Story of a Paper Crown''), whose protagonist is Henryk, a disappointed homosexual lover who has attempted suicide.
Józef Czechowicz was himself a homosexual. His sexual orientation significantly influenced his writing
[Kaliściak, Tomasz. (2011). ''Katastrofy odmieńców'', p. 340-41. Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego, Katowice. .] but it also led him to face repression.
He also worked as a journalist and an editor of newspapers and magazines based in Lublin. He followed this occupation after he moved to
Warsaw
Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...
in 1933. He belonged to the
Polish Teachers' Union and supported many of his writing friends, with both finances and publishing. He would take care of a group of poets who used to live at 9 Dobra St: Henryk Domiński, Wacław Mrozowski and Bronisław Ludwik Michalski. While he was living in Warsaw, he developed friendships with poets such as
Czesław Miłosz
Czesław Miłosz ( , , ; 30 June 1911 – 14 August 2004) was a Polish Americans, Polish-American poet, prose writer, translator, and diplomat. He primarily wrote his poetry in Polish language, Polish. Regarded as one of the great poets of the ...
and
Anna Świrszczyńska.
Death
As Alina Kowalczykowa indicates, in the poetry volume ''nuta człowiecza'' Czechowicz envisioned himself being "struck by a bomb."
Having heard about the outbreak of
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 ...
, Czechowicz left Warsaw and returned to his native Lublin. He was convinced that being outside the capital city would keep him safe. On 9 September 1939, between 9 and 10 a.m., he was at a barber's shop at 46 Krakowskie Przedmieście St. when the building was bombarded and he died.
Poetry
In his approach to rhyme and metrics, Czechowicz was unorthodox. However, as Czesław Miłosz cogently points out, "all of his poetry is intrinsically linked to the so-called 'bourgeois lyricism' of the seventeenth century and to folk songs."
[Miłosz, Czesław (1983). ''The History of Polish Literature'', p. 411-12. University of California Press, California. .] He emphasised a striking harmonious musicality in his poetry by using onomatopoeia, phonetic instrumentation, and sonorous neologisms as well as selecting originally harmonious rare assonances and rhymes.
Czechowicz is often described as a poet of the city, of small towns and provinces. The supernatural character of the worlds presented in his poetry is intensified by the use of personifications, including nature and landscape elements. His rejection of capital letters and punctuation also increases the atmosphere of mystery and ambiguity that typify his works.
Czesław Miłosz notes that the very voice of this poet, barely audible and murmuring, cannot be compared to any kind of Western poetry, and it appears untranslatable in that it exploits concealed sonorities characteristic of one particular language. Still, some analogies can be suggested: "His lyrics can be likened to chamber music made poignant by the counterpoint of dark philosophical and metaphysical problems."
Józef Czechowicz Museum in Lublin
The Józef Czechowicz Museum in Lublin is a department of the
National Museum in Lublin. The museum's main goal is to collect and share manuscripts and publications by or about Czechowicz, though not exclusively (other writers from the Lublin region are also included).
The museum was inaugurated on 9 September 1968, on the 29th anniversary of Czechowicz's tragic death. Originally, it was situated at 10 Narutowicza St. Since 9 September 2002 the exhibitions of the museum are accessible to the public in an old tenement building at 3 Złota St. (in the Old Town).
["Józef Czechowicz Literary Museum"](_blank)
, ''Lublin Province Museum''.
Published works
Collections of poems
* ''kamień'' (1927)
* ''dzień jak codzień'' (1930)
* ''ballada z tamtej strony'' (1932)
* ''stare kamienie'' (1934)
* ''w błyskawicy'' (1934)
* ''nic więcej'' (1936)
* ''arkusz poetycki'' (1938)
* ''nuta człowiecza'' (1939)
Translations
* ''A Poem about Lublin'' (1934, from ''stare kamienie'') translated by Małgorzata Sady and George Hyde (London 2002-2005)
* ''Ein Poem über Lublin'' translated from the English version into German by
Paul Alfred Kleinert (Vienna 2020)
* Some poems have been translated into English and German and have been published in anthologies in those countries. ''Polnische Poesie des 20. Jahrhunderts'' (edited and translated by
Karl Dedecius, Munich 1964); ''Polnische Lyrik aus fünf Jahrzehnten'' (edited by Henryk Bereska and Heinrich Olschowsky, Berlin and Weimar 1975); ''Sto Wierszy Polskich/ Hundert polnische Gedichte'' (bilingual edition, edited and translated by Karl Dedecius, Kraków 1982/‘89); ''Panorama der polnischen Literatur des 20. Jahrhunderts. Poesie'' (edited and translated by Karl Dedecius, Zürich 1996); ''Polnische Lyrik aus 100 Jahren'' (edited by Sergiusz Sterna-Wachowiak, Gifkendorf 1997); ''Makkaronische Dichtung'', Zurich 2013).
Plays
* ''Czasu Jutrzennego''
* ''Jasne Miecze''
* ''Obraz''
See also
*
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, ...
*
Lublin
Lublin is List of cities and towns in Poland, the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the centre of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin i ...
References
External links
A page dedicated to Czechowicz by Ośrodek "Brama Grodzka – Teatr NN" in LublinA website of the Lublin Province Museum and Józef Czechowicz Literary MuseumJózef Czechowicz poems and biography at poezja.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Czechowicz, Jozef
Writers from Lublin
1903 births
1939 deaths
Polish people of the Polish–Soviet War
20th-century Polish poets
Gay poets
Polish LGBTQ poets
20th-century Polish male writers
20th-century Polish LGBTQ people
Polish civilians killed in World War II
Deaths by German airstrikes during World War II