Jan Błoński

(1931-2009) – historian of literature, critic, essayist, translator.

Graduated in Polish studies at the Jagiellonian University in 1952. In the years 1959-62 he worked at the Institute of Literary Studies (IBL) of the Polish Academy of Sciences, and then, until 1966, as a Polish teacher at the Sorbonne in Paris. On his return to Kraków in 1967 he returned to work at IBL. He was also literary director at the Stary Teatr in Kraków (1967-71 and 1977-81), and a lecturer (1972-74). In 1968 he defended his doctoral thesis at IBL: “Dramaty Stanisława Ignacego Witkiewicza” (The Plays of Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz), and a year later he got his post-doctoral degree on the basis of the work “Mikołaj Sęp Szarzyński a początki polskiego baroku” (Mikołaj Sęp Szarzyński and the Beginnings of the Polish Baroque), for which he received the Kościelski Foundation Award. In 1970 he started work at the Faculty of Polish Studies at the Jagiellonian University, where – later as a professor – he lectured until the end of his life, also as the director of the Department of Theatre (1977-80), of the Department of 20^th-Century Polish Literature (1995-1997) and the prorector of the Jagiellonian University. In the years 1974-76 he lectured at the University of Clermont-Ferrand in France, and returned there a few times in the 1980s. In 1980 he also worked as a professor at the Paris University. He was a member of bodies including the board of the Polish Writers’ Union, academic board of the IBL, the Learned Society of the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, the State Committee for Scientific Research and the board of the International Comparative Literature Association in France. He was involved in various committees of cultural and scientific institutions, including the roles of chair at the Polish National Committee of the European Cultural Foundation and corresponding member of the Philology Department at the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences; he was also active in the National Council for Polish-Jewish Relations from the Office of the President of the Republic of Poland and the Judaica Foundation Centre for Jewish Culture in Kraków.

As a critic he debuted in 1949 in the monthly “Twórczość” with the article “Poezja Różewicza” (The Poetry of Różewicz). In the years 1950-60 he headed the literature section in the weekly “Przekrój”, and then co-edited the bimonthly “Teksty”, where he also published scholarly articles. As a literary critic, he worked with “Życie Literackie”, “Nowa Kultura”, “Twórczość”, “Dialog”, “Przegląd Kulturalny” and “Tygodnik Powszechny”. He was one of the most eminent figures of the Kraków school of criticism. He focused mainly on poetry, commenting on its transformations in the 1950s (“Gałczyński”; “Poeci i inni” – Poets and Others), and then, on the example of prose, described the watershed of Polish October 1956 (“Zmiana warty” – Change of Guard). However, he gained recognition mostly for interpreting works by 20^th-century classics: Proust (“Widzieć jasno w zachwyceniu” – To See More Clearly Into My Enjoyment), Beckett (Samuel Beckett), Witkiewicz (“Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz jako dramaturg” – Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz as a Playwright; “Od Stasia do Witkacego” – From Staś to Witkacy), Gombrowicz (“Forma, śmiech i rzeczy ostateczne” – Form, Laughter and Eschatology), Miłosz (“Miłosz jak świat” – Miłosz Like the World), Mrożek (“Wszystkie sztuki Sławomira Mrożka” – All the Plays by Stanisław Mrożek). He wrote about drama and theatre, making use of his experience of working at Stary Teatr in Kraków. He translated German and French literature, as well as texts by French critics and theorists of literature (as the grandson of a French governess, he was bilingual).

Readers were delighted by the perfection of his critical style, its simplicity and his artistry at interpreting literature. His position as a critic was cemented by his unerring ear and ability to pass judgment. For decades it was him who “anointed” debut writers, established literary hierarchies. However, in the wider world he became known mostly as the author of the essay “Biedni Polacy patrzą na getto” (Poor Poles Look at the Ghetto), which initiated an incredibly heated debate about the issue of Polish moral responsibility in the face of the Holocaust. And so, in the past half century, Błoński was not only one of the greatest analysts of contemporary Polish literature, but also its conscience, an uncompromising author of uncomfortable questions. He was also on the juries of a few prominent literary awards including the Kościelski Award in Geneva or the Nike Literary Award.

He received the Kościelski Award (for the book Mikołaj Sęp Szarzyński and the Beginnings of Polish Baroque, 1968) and the Kazimierz Wyka Award (1981). His book All the Plays by Stanisław Mrożek was named the Kraków Book of the Month in 1995. He was awarded the Gold Cross of Merit (1975), the Knight’s (1982), Officer’s (1998) and Commander’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (2006), the gold Gloria Artis Medal for Merit to Culture (2007) and, posthumously, the Stanisław Musiał Award founded by the vice-chancellor of the Jagiellonian University and the Mayor of Kraków for contributions to Polish-Jewish reconciliation (2009).

In 2011, the Faculty of Polish Studies at the Jagiellonian University established the Jan Błoński Festival in his honour.

His friends included Stanisław Lem and Sławomir Mrożek. His correspondence with Mrożek was published in the volume “Listy 1963-1996” (Letters 1963-1996, Wydawnictwo Literackie, 2004). His writings, translated into various languages, were published in anthologies of Polish literature criticism – for example in Littérature et émigration (1996), Bruno Schulz il profeta sommerso (2000) and Der Fremde als Nachbar. Polnische Positionen zur jüdischen Präsenz. Texte seit 1800 (2009) – and in foreign editions of individual works by Polish authors.