Jerzy Jarniewicz

(b. 1958) – poet, translator, literary critic, professor of humanities, English philologist

Jarniewicz teaches English literature at the University of Łódź. He edited the magazine “Tygiel Kultury”, regularly reviewed for “Tygodnik Powszechny”, published in “Gazeta Wyborcza”. For many years, he was part of the editorial team of “Literatura na Świecie”, where he still publishes critical studies and translations.

He debuted in 1984 with a volume of poetry entitled “Korytarze” (Corridors). His subsequent poetry books clearly revealed the main themes of his work. These include – above all – the issue of difficult or impossible communication with the world and other people. This is accompanied by issues such as construing one’s identity in a world with an infinite number of offers enabling various forms of the self to emerge, and the potential range of self-expressions available in various languages.

It is very important for Jarniewicz to reflect on the relationship between the subject, language, and non-linguistic reality. His oeuvre focuses on philosophical problems – historicity, the dialectics of presence and absence, inexpressibility, the conditions for understanding, the fictions of childhood. It is characterised by a demonstrative lack of conclusions, subversive sensuality and reticent language. This can be observed, for example, in the volume Mondo Cane, which received the Nike Literary Award. As critics noted, in it the poet gave voice to his weaknesses and his shame, trying to tame them. He cloaked intimacy, sexuality and his relationship to the body with daily life, aptly diagnosing modern ills.

Jarniewicz consistently introduces English-language literature into the Polish market. As a translator, he published books by authors including: James Joyce, Philip Roth, Edmund White, John Banville, Seamus Heaney, Craig Raine, Simon Armitage. In his critical books about contemporary British, Irish and American literature, he creates portraits of the most eminent foreign authors of prose and poetry. He also contributes to the exposure of some lesser-known ones, such as writers from Wales and Scotland. His sketches address the longstanding gaps in the Polish awareness of the newest works of international literature.

And thus in his collection of essays “W brzuchu wieloryba” (In the Belly of the Whale, 2001), Jarniewicz introduces the giants of 20^th century poetry: Yeats, Eliot, Auden, while also including lesser-known ones, like Derek Mahon, Craig Raine, Ciaran Carson. In the monograph “Larkin. Odsłuchiwanie wierszy” (Larkin. Listening to Poems, 2006) about the British poet Philip Larkin he creates a vision of the poet who, as he tries to rid himself of any illusions about happiness, is aware that he is getting caught in the trap of disillusionment. But Jarniewicz’s critical interests are not limited to poetry: his books “Lista obecności” (Roll Call, 2000) and “Znaki firmowe” (Trademarks, 2007) are commentaries on the prose output of the Anglosphere.

The author showed himself to be an expert on the counterculture revolt of the 1960s in the books “All You Need is Love. Sceny z życia kontrkultury” (All You Need is Love. Scenes from the Life of Counterculture) and “Bunt wizjonerów” (The Visionaries’ Rebellion). The first one is about the people who followed the creed of “Make love not war”, but also those who perverted the ideals of a peaceful revolution and wreaked urban terror. In the second one, we can read about dissenting psychiatrists and Yoko Ono… The reader is introduced into the world of visionaries who wanted to live in Utopia.

Jarniewicz has won many awards, including the Silesius Poetry Award, the Nike Literary Award, the Julian Tuwim Literary Award and the Bernard O’Connor Award. He also received the Gold Cross of Merit and the bronze Gloria Artis Medal for Merit to Culture.