Biography on the 100th anniversary of birth
The Sejm of the Republic of Poland adopted a resolution on the choice of Tadeusz Różewicz as a patron of the year 2021. The poet and dramatist who lived in Wroclaw would celebrate the 100th anniversary of this birth exactly on 9th October 2021.
The release of Tadeusz Różewicz’s biography on which Magdalena Grochowska has worked for the last few years is scheduled for autumn; we can guess that the literary circle will anticipate it as eagerly as in the case of Andrzej Franaszek’s book about Zbigniew Herbert.
The author is a recognised reporter, whose portraits of Jerzy Giedroyc, Jan Strzelecki and Polish intellectuals (in the book In Times of Madness [W czasach szaleństwa]) were nominated for the Nike Award. Grochowska became a laureate of the Nike Readers>>'<< Award and the award of the Odra monthly for her book Jerzy Giedroyc. To Poland of a Dream [Jerzy Giedroyć. Do Polski ze snu].
Tadeusz Różewicz’s biography will come out in Dowody na Istnienie – a publishing house founded by Mariusz Szczygieł and Wojciech Tochman that specialises in reportage books.
For the time being, the publishers have given a sneak peek at the content: ‘I am afraid of Różewicz’s copper sky. His nights, during which he “opened the veins of poems” and his wakings “with a mouth full of sand”. I am afraid of traps that life set for him, traps for the human being. He covered them with the fragile sheet of the poem through which a cave shines as through a glass pane.’
Tadeusz Różewicz in Wroclaw
In 1968, Tadeusz Różewicz arrived in Wroclaw, which became his home for further years. In the 1990s, he published a drama The Card Index Scattered [Kartoteka rozrzucona] and new volumes, e.g., Always a Fragment: Recycling [Zawsze fragment. Recycling] and Mother Departs [Matka odchodzi] (for which he received the Nike Award). After 2000, a number of further volumes came out, including The Professor>>'<
In 1994, he received the title of Honorary Citizen of Wroclaw, and in 2008, he became the first laureate of the Silesius Wroclaw Poetry Award granted for his entire literary output. ‘We made a quick decision,’ explained Professor Jacek Łukasiewicz when commenting upon the jury's verdict at that time. ‘It’s the most outstanding Polish poet, and his works have had a great influence on contemporary poetry,’ he added.
Tadeusz Różewicz’s name was also mentioned in the context of the Literary Nobel Prize.
His works have been translated into more than 50 languages. They are also performed on theatre stages of all continents.
Tadeusz Różewicz died in Wroclaw on 24th April 2014. According to the poet’s will, his ashes were interred at the cemetery beside the Evangelical Church of Our Saviour in Karpacz.
In Wroclaw, the memory of the author is still alive. A special room has been devoted to him in the Pan Tadeusz Museum, the content of the original drawer from his desk is available to visitors in the Zajezdnia History Centre, and the bust of Tadeusz Różewicz has enriched the Gallery of Famous Wroclaw People in the Burghers’ Room of the Old Town Hall.
