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| Tadeusz Rozewicz, Fierce Poetic Voice of Postwar Poland, Is Dead at 92 | Tadeusz Rozewicz, Fierce Poetic Voice of Postwar Poland, Is Dead at 92 |
| (2 days later) | |
| Tadeusz Rozewicz, a defiantly modernist, globally acclaimed Polish poet whose answer to the Holocaust and other 20th-century horrors was a renunciation of literary ornament and a call for poetry of “not verses but facts,” died on April 24 at his home near Wroclaw, Poland. He was 92. | Tadeusz Rozewicz, a defiantly modernist, globally acclaimed Polish poet whose answer to the Holocaust and other 20th-century horrors was a renunciation of literary ornament and a call for poetry of “not verses but facts,” died on April 24 at his home near Wroclaw, Poland. He was 92. |
| Poland’s culture ministry announced the death. | Poland’s culture ministry announced the death. |
| Mr. Rozewicz (pronounced roo-ZHEH-veech) was awarded the European Prize for Literature in 2007, and his work has been translated into 49 languages. Seamus Heaney, the Irish poet who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1995, called him “one of the greatest European poets of the 20th century.” | Mr. Rozewicz (pronounced roo-ZHEH-veech) was awarded the European Prize for Literature in 2007, and his work has been translated into 49 languages. Seamus Heaney, the Irish poet who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1995, called him “one of the greatest European poets of the 20th century.” |
| Poland has long adored its great bards, many of them of the Romantic school. But as its war-ravaged people grappled with losing six million of their number — nearly one- fifth of the population — in World War II, Polish poets faced an immense challenge: finding the words to confront meaninglessness after art, reason and religion had all seemed to fail at the task. | Poland has long adored its great bards, many of them of the Romantic school. But as its war-ravaged people grappled with losing six million of their number — nearly one- fifth of the population — in World War II, Polish poets faced an immense challenge: finding the words to confront meaninglessness after art, reason and religion had all seemed to fail at the task. |
| They rose to the occasion. Writing in The New York Times Magazine in 1996, the poet and critic Edward Hirsch said Poland’s postwar writers had produced what “may well be the most urgent and cosmopolitan poetry in the world today.” | They rose to the occasion. Writing in The New York Times Magazine in 1996, the poet and critic Edward Hirsch said Poland’s postwar writers had produced what “may well be the most urgent and cosmopolitan poetry in the world today.” |
| Mr. Rozewicz — whose brother, his literary inspiration, was killed by the Gestapo — was at the center of this expression, publishing more than two dozen books of verse and 15 plays as well. When the poet Wislawa Szymborska won the Nobel in 1996, she said it would be difficult to imagine Polish poetry without Mr. Rozewicz. | Mr. Rozewicz — whose brother, his literary inspiration, was killed by the Gestapo — was at the center of this expression, publishing more than two dozen books of verse and 15 plays as well. When the poet Wislawa Szymborska won the Nobel in 1996, she said it would be difficult to imagine Polish poetry without Mr. Rozewicz. |
| “We all owe him something,” she said, “although not everyone is ready to admit it.” | “We all owe him something,” she said, “although not everyone is ready to admit it.” |
| Her only disappointment in receiving the prize, she said, was that another Pole would be unlikely to do so for a long time, and none has since then. Mr. Rozewicz was reported to have been shortlisted for the Nobel several times. | Her only disappointment in receiving the prize, she said, was that another Pole would be unlikely to do so for a long time, and none has since then. Mr. Rozewicz was reported to have been shortlisted for the Nobel several times. |
| Czeslaw Milosz, the grandmaster of Polish literature, who won the Nobel in 1980 and who translated much of Mr. Rozewicz’s work into English, called Mr. Rozewicz “the most talented among those who began to publish immediately after 1945.” | Czeslaw Milosz, the grandmaster of Polish literature, who won the Nobel in 1980 and who translated much of Mr. Rozewicz’s work into English, called Mr. Rozewicz “the most talented among those who began to publish immediately after 1945.” |
| Certainly none took on a sterner task: refuting Theodor Adorno, the German sociologist and philosopher, who famously said, “To write poetry after Auschwitz is barbaric.” | Certainly none took on a sterner task: refuting Theodor Adorno, the German sociologist and philosopher, who famously said, “To write poetry after Auschwitz is barbaric.” |
| Mr. Rozewicz, in the poem “I Did Espy a Marvelous Monster,” asserted, “at home a task/Awaits me:/To create poetry after Auschwitz.” | Mr. Rozewicz, in the poem “I Did Espy a Marvelous Monster,” asserted, “at home a task/Awaits me:/To create poetry after Auschwitz.” |
| He called for a new aesthetic that accepted Auschwitz as its awful premise and deemed all previous literature a lie. He insisted that “stillness” had come to trump words, but that when words were offered, they must be piercingly direct. Metaphysics, mystical allusion and “prettiness” had no use. | He called for a new aesthetic that accepted Auschwitz as its awful premise and deemed all previous literature a lie. He insisted that “stillness” had come to trump words, but that when words were offered, they must be piercingly direct. Metaphysics, mystical allusion and “prettiness” had no use. |
| “His limits confine, but they also condense,” the writer and translator Jaroslaw Anders wrote in The New Republic in 2011. “They force everything to prove its substantiality and its relevance.” | “His limits confine, but they also condense,” the writer and translator Jaroslaw Anders wrote in The New Republic in 2011. “They force everything to prove its substantiality and its relevance.” |
| He added, “Like it or not, he says, this is all we have, a fragment, a glimpse, a rustle — the gray zone.” | He added, “Like it or not, he says, this is all we have, a fragment, a glimpse, a rustle — the gray zone.” |
| Hard details, not metaphors, were his building blocks. In “Pigtail,” about workmen sweeping up the hair of murdered girls and women in a death camp, Mr. Rozewicz considers the life that had been when he writes of “a pigtail with a ribbon/pulled at school/by naughty boys.” | Hard details, not metaphors, were his building blocks. In “Pigtail,” about workmen sweeping up the hair of murdered girls and women in a death camp, Mr. Rozewicz considers the life that had been when he writes of “a pigtail with a ribbon/pulled at school/by naughty boys.” |
| The effect was necessarily bleak. “His scorn for ‘art’ is quite programmatic, with all its contradictions such an attitude involves,” Mr. Milosz wrote. “He is a nihilistic humanitarian, constantly searching for a way out of his negation.” | The effect was necessarily bleak. “His scorn for ‘art’ is quite programmatic, with all its contradictions such an attitude involves,” Mr. Milosz wrote. “He is a nihilistic humanitarian, constantly searching for a way out of his negation.” |
| In “Nothing in Prospero’s Robes,” Mr. Rozewicz writes in part: | In “Nothing in Prospero’s Robes,” Mr. Rozewicz writes in part: |
| nothing begets nothing | nothing begets nothing |
| nothing brings up nothing | nothing brings up nothing |
| nothing lives comfortably | nothing lives comfortably |
| in nothing | in nothing |
| nothing awaits nothing | nothing awaits nothing |
| nothing threatens | nothing threatens |
| nothing condemns | nothing condemns |
| nothing pardons | nothing pardons |
| But in “In the Middle of Life,” the poet finds, in this excerpt, profound meaning in simple things: | But in “In the Middle of Life,” the poet finds, in this excerpt, profound meaning in simple things: |
| that old woman who | that old woman who |
| is pulling a goat on a rope | is pulling a goat on a rope |
| is more necessary | is more necessary |
| and more precious | and more precious |
| than the seven wonders of the world | than the seven wonders of the world |
| whoever thinks and feels | whoever thinks and feels |
| that she is not necessary | that she is not necessary |
| he is guilty of genocide. | he is guilty of genocide. |
| Mr. Rozewicz’s dramatic works were playfully dark, to the extent that such an effect is possible. “The Card Index,” first performed in 1960, depicts a man who chooses not to get out of bed or speak, until he blurts out, “I like the little toe on my left foot better than I do all of humanity.” In “Laocoon Group” (1961), a great poet laureate, unable to write anything more, spends his days crawling on the floor accompanied by his admirers, interpreters and biographers. | Mr. Rozewicz’s dramatic works were playfully dark, to the extent that such an effect is possible. “The Card Index,” first performed in 1960, depicts a man who chooses not to get out of bed or speak, until he blurts out, “I like the little toe on my left foot better than I do all of humanity.” In “Laocoon Group” (1961), a great poet laureate, unable to write anything more, spends his days crawling on the floor accompanied by his admirers, interpreters and biographers. |
| Mr. Rozewicz’s play “Marriage Blanc” (1975), which has been performed around the world, concerns two sisters in bed discussing their growing sexual curiosity. In a production in New Haven in 1977, the bed was surrounded by a forest of phalluses. | Mr. Rozewicz’s play “Marriage Blanc” (1975), which has been performed around the world, concerns two sisters in bed discussing their growing sexual curiosity. In a production in New Haven in 1977, the bed was surrounded by a forest of phalluses. |
| “The Trap” (1983) imagines scenes depicting the life of Franz Kafka. Though Kafka died in 1924, the future exists in the present, as the Nazis wait behind the scenes throughout the play. At the end, as the actors playing Kafka and his family take their bows, the Executioner-Guards emerge and push them offstage, where trains are leaving for the death camps. The wall closes and only desperate fingers and palms can be seen. | “The Trap” (1983) imagines scenes depicting the life of Franz Kafka. Though Kafka died in 1924, the future exists in the present, as the Nazis wait behind the scenes throughout the play. At the end, as the actors playing Kafka and his family take their bows, the Executioner-Guards emerge and push them offstage, where trains are leaving for the death camps. The wall closes and only desperate fingers and palms can be seen. |
| Tadeusz Rozewicz (his full name is pronounced tah-DAY-oosh roo-ZHEH-veech), was born on Oct. 9, 1921, in Radomsko, Poland, the middle of three sons of a court clerk. His mother came from a Jewish family that had converted to Christianity. His younger brother, Stanislaw, became a film director. | Tadeusz Rozewicz (his full name is pronounced tah-DAY-oosh roo-ZHEH-veech), was born on Oct. 9, 1921, in Radomsko, Poland, the middle of three sons of a court clerk. His mother came from a Jewish family that had converted to Christianity. His younger brother, Stanislaw, became a film director. |
| While still in junior high school, Mr. Rozewicz wrote articles for avant-garde literary pamphlets and magazines for Catholic youth. He worked at odd jobs, including as an apprentice carpenter. | While still in junior high school, Mr. Rozewicz wrote articles for avant-garde literary pamphlets and magazines for Catholic youth. He worked at odd jobs, including as an apprentice carpenter. |
| He considered teaching and forestry, but at 18, with the outbreak of war against Germany, he followed his older brother, Janusz, a published writer, into the Polish underground army, operating in forests with a partisan force. Janusz was captured, tortured and killed by the Gestapo. | He considered teaching and forestry, but at 18, with the outbreak of war against Germany, he followed his older brother, Janusz, a published writer, into the Polish underground army, operating in forests with a partisan force. Janusz was captured, tortured and killed by the Gestapo. |
| Tadeusz managed to write while fighting, and in 1944 published a volume of lyrical poems and essays. He expressed optimism about winning the war but criticized Polish patriotic myths. | Tadeusz managed to write while fighting, and in 1944 published a volume of lyrical poems and essays. He expressed optimism about winning the war but criticized Polish patriotic myths. |
| After the war he finished high school and became associated with young Expressionist painters who were dealing with their disillusionment through artistic experimentation. He studied art himself at Jagiellonian University in Krakow but did not graduate. | After the war he finished high school and became associated with young Expressionist painters who were dealing with their disillusionment through artistic experimentation. He studied art himself at Jagiellonian University in Krakow but did not graduate. |
| He published his first book of poems, “Anxiety,” in 1947. “The tone, the imagery, the sheer anger and vehemence of this one little volume was like nothing that had been written in Polish before,” Mr. Anders wrote in The New Republic. | He published his first book of poems, “Anxiety,” in 1947. “The tone, the imagery, the sheer anger and vehemence of this one little volume was like nothing that had been written in Polish before,” Mr. Anders wrote in The New Republic. |
| Mr. Rozewicz is survived by his wife, Wieslawa, and a son Kamil. Another son, Jan, died in 2008. | |
| His best-known poem, “The Survivor,” published in “Anxiety,” became his generation’s credo. Many Poles memorized these lines: | His best-known poem, “The Survivor,” published in “Anxiety,” became his generation’s credo. Many Poles memorized these lines: |
| I am twenty-four | I am twenty-four |
| led to the slaughter | led to the slaughter |
| I survived. | I survived. |