Maciej Słomczyński (April 10, 1922 – March 21, 1998) was a Polish

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''trans ...

and

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles, genres and techniques to communicate ideas, to inspire feelings and emotions, or to entertain. Writers may develop different forms of writing such as novels, short sto ...

. For his detective stories he used the pen names Joe Alex and Kazimierz Kwaśniewski.

Life and work

Born in

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 ...

, he was the son of

Merian C. Cooper Merian Caldwell Cooper (October 24, 1893 – April 21, 1973) was an American filmmaker, actor, producer and air officer. In film, his most famous work was the 1933 movie ''King Kong (1933 film), King Kong'', and he is credited as co-inventor of ...

, an American aviator, American Air Force and

Polish Air Force The Polish Air Force () is the aerial warfare Military branch, branch of the Polish Armed Forces. Until July 2004 it was officially known as ''Wojska Lotnicze i Obrony Powietrznej'' (). In 2014 it consisted of roughly 26,000 military personnel an ...

officer, adventurer, and the

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...

and producer of the film ''

King Kong King Kong, also referred to simply as Kong, is a fictional giant monster resembling a gorilla, who has appeared in various media since 1933. The character has since become an international pop culture icon,Erb, Cynthia, 1998, ''Tracking Kin ...

''. His mother was an Englishwoman, Marjorie Słomczyńska née Crosby (1884–1954). He adopted his last name, Słomczyński, after his stepfather, Aleksander Słomczyński, who married Marjorie after she had not agreed to leave for the United States with Cooper. However, the fatherhood of Cooper has been questioned, among others, by his family. In 1941, he joined the Polish resistance organization Confederation of the Nation and in 1943 the Polish

Home Army The Home Army (, ; abbreviated AK) was the dominant resistance movement in German-occupied Poland during World War II. The Home Army was formed in February 1942 from the earlier Związek Walki Zbrojnej (Armed Resistance) established in the ...

. In 1944 he was arrested and imprisoned in

Pawiak Pawiak () was a prison built in 1835 in Warsaw, Congress Poland. During the January 1863 Uprising, it served as a transfer camp for Poles sentenced by Imperial Russia to deportation to Siberia. During the World War II German occupation ...

, from which he managed to escape. Later he moved West and served in the American Gendarmerie in France. He debuted as a poet in 1946 in ''Tydzień'' magazine in

Łódź Łódź is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located south-west of Warsaw. Łódź has a population of 655,279, making it the country's List of cities and towns in Polan ...

. In 1947 he returned to Poland and seven years later he moved permanently to

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

. After the war he was persecuted and questioned as a suspected British spy. For a few months in 1953, he worked for

Służba Bezpieczeństwa The Security Service (; ), in full Security Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and commonly known as SB, was a secret police force established in the Polish People's Republic in 1956 as a successor to the Ministry of Public Security (P ...

(State Security), and he fled to Gdańsk to break away from the agency. Later, he persistently refused to cooperate. He is the author of the 1957 novel ''Cassiopeia'', in which he presented the attitudes of the artistic circles towards communism and the reasons, which made a great part of these circles to serve the new government. He translated ''Ulysses'' and ''

Gulliver's Travels ''Gulliver's Travels'', originally titled ''Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. In Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships'', is a 1726 prose satire by the Anglo-Irish writer and clerg ...

'' into Polish; he was the only person in the world to translate all the works of

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

. His translations of Shakespeare were, however, criticized for lack of clarity, faithfulness to the original or any literary value. He was a member of the Stowarzyszenie Pisarzy Polskich and

Rotary Club Rotary International is one of the largest Service club, service organizations in the world. The self-declared mission of Rotary, as stated on its website, is to "provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, go ...

, as well as the vice-president of the international association The James Joyce Foundation, and since 1973, a member of the Irish Institute. Maciej Slomczynski grave

Joe Alex and Kazimierz Kwaśniewski

Słomczyński was the author of

crime fiction Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, crime novel, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives or fiction that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professiona ...

published under the

pen name A pen name or nom-de-plume is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen name may be used to make the author's na ...

s Joe Alex (or Józef Aleks) and Kazimierz Kwaśniewski. As Joe Alex he authored film scripts, stage plays and TV plays, in particular, for the TV .http://www.e-teatr.pl/pl/artykuly/41618.html "Kobra znów kąsa"] Cobra Bites Again" (original from dziennik.pl, October 13, 2007, i
here
with many advertisements) Alex's crime fiction was translated into 13 languages: Belarusian, Bulgarian, Czech, Lithuanian, Latvian, German, Russian, Romanian, Serbo-Croatian, Slovak, Slovene, Ukrainian and Hungarian. Most of his books in the

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

were published without his permission or without the permission of his descendants.

Bibliography

As Maciej Słomczyński: *''Lądujemy 6 czerwca'' *''Zadanie porucznika Kenta'' *''Fabryka śmierci'' *''Szary cień'' As Joe Alex: *''Śmierć mówi w moim imieniu'' *''Cichym ścigałam go lotem'' *''Gdzie przykazań brak dziesięciu'' *''Niechaj odnajdą swoich wrogów'' *''Zmącony spokój Pani Labiryntu'' *''Cicha jak ostatnie tchnienie'' *''Jesteś tylko diabłem'' *''Piekło jest we mnie'' *Powiem wam jak zginął *Czarne okręty As Kazimierz Kwaśniewski: *''Śmierć i Kowalski'' *''Zbrodniarz i panna'' *''Każę aktorom powtórzyć morderstwo'' *''Gdzie jest trzeci król?'' *''Ciemna jaskinia'' *''Czarny Kwiat''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Slomczynski, Maciej English–Polish translators Polish male writers Polish crime writers Polish crime fiction writers Translators from English Translators of William Shakespeare 1922 births 1998 deaths Writers from Warsaw People from Warsaw Voivodeship (1919–1939) Polish people of American descent Burials at Rakowicki Cemetery 20th-century Polish translators 20th-century Polish poets 20th-century Polish writers Polish people of English descent