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(b. 1985) – a poet, prose writer and Doctor of the Humanities. Małogorzata Lebda has her own, inimitable poetic idiom and a great deal…
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Poetry
Józef Łobodowski
(1909–88, pseud. Pszonka, Stefan Kuryłło, Szperacz, Iwan Krawczenko, señor Lobo) – a poet, prose writer, reporter, radio journalist and translator.
He began writing poetry back in school; he debuted in 1929 with the collection ‘Słońce przez szpary’ (The Sun Through the Cracks). In 1931, he took up legal studies, but the school relegated him to leftist political activities. In Lublin he was connected with Józef Czechowicz’s milieu and the Lublin avant-garde. During that time, he received the prestigious Polish Academy of Literature’s Young Writer Award. He flirted with communism, and this was expressed in his writing – two volumes of his poems were confiscated for their communist content. In 1936, he became editor-in-chief of Wołyń, he also edited Dźwigary and Barykada. He worked with Pion, Skamander and Tygodnik Ilustrowany.
In the 1930s he began exploring Ukrainian issues: he worked with Ukrainian and Caucasus immigration centres, and with the Polish journalists gathered in the Eastern Institute.
During World War II, he took part in the September campaign of the 10th Brigade of the Motorised Cavalry of Stanisław Maczek; in November 1939, he made it through to France, where he was held in a camp for interned Polish soldiers. During the war he edited propaganda leaflets, the Wrócimy literary/political journal, and published poems. In 1941, he crossed the Spanish border illegally, was arrested and thrown in jail. Upon his release in 1943, he settled in Madrid. There he began working with Radio Nacional de España in 1949, where he helped create the Polish section; he was its main journalist until 1975.
During his émigré period, he published poems, articles, columns and translations of poetry from Russian, Ukrainian and Spanish in London’s Wiadomość, Paris’s Kultura, Orzeł Biały, Dziennik Polski and Dziennik Żołnierza. He also collaborated with Zeszyty Historyczne. He was a fiery journalist and a great advocate of Polish-Ukrainian accord.
In his émigré poetry we find the influences of Ukrainian culture, which Łobodowski adored and lauded since his youth, and Spanish literature, with which he came to know in his chosen land of exile. His Ukrainian journalism, which appeared regularly in Paris’s Kultura journal, was thematically linked to a volume published both in Polish and in Ukrainian, ‘Pieśń o Ukrainie’ (Song of Ukraine). Spanish influences are visible in a later volume, ‘Kasydy i gazele’ (Qasidas and Gazelles). His volume commemorating Zuzanna Ginczanka, a poet killed during the war – ‘Pamięci Sulamity’ (In Memory of Shulamite) – is also admired and relatively well known.
After the war, Łobodowski began writing expansive prose. His Ukrainian Trilogy tells the story of Staś Majewski, whose idyllic life in the Ukrainian steppe is upset by the Bolshevik Revolution. In the following volumes, the boy learns the hardship of daily struggle to survive and the solidarity of life in a Cossack camp, the terror of dietdom and the quandaries of entering manhood. Łobodowski’s second epic series is The Story of Józef Zakrzewski. In the first two volumes, he sketched a panorama of political, ideological and social life in pre-war Lublin, and the last volume takes us to the countryside – Polesie and other parts of Poland where fate sends the young communist Józef Zakrzewski. Łobodowski’s series of novels did not appear in Poland until the twenty-first century.
Łobodowski won many literary awards while living abroad: from Kultura in Paris (1961), the Silver Spur Club in Los Angeles (1961), the A. Jurzykowski Foundation in New York (1967), the Polish Writers’ Union Abroad (1967), Wiadomość (1969), the A. Godlewska Award in Switzerland (1971) and the Polish Book Fair of the Polish Combatants’ Association in Switzerland (1975). He won the Friends of Polish Poetry Award in Detroit (1976), the J. Ławruk of Starzycki Award in Canada (1976) and the Kultura Z. Hertz Literary Award (1982). In 1983 he was named honorary member of the Polish-Ukrainian Society in Paris. The Polish Government in exile gave him the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (1985). In 1991, he was posthumously given an honorary J. Czechowicz Award.
Bibliography
poetry:
- Słońce przez szpary, Lublin: Drukarnia Ludowa J. Popiela, 1929.
- Gwiezdny psałterz, Lublin: Drukarnia Ludowa J. Popiela, 1931.
- O czerwonej krwi, Lublin 1931 [volume confiscated in 1932, print run destroyed].
- W przeddzień, Lublin 1932 [volume confiscated in 1932, print run destroyed].
- Rozmowa z Ojczyzną, Lublin: Drukarnia Popularna, 1935.
- Demonom nocy, Warsaw: F. Hoesick, 1936.
- Z dymem pożarów, Nice: U Tyszkiewicza w Nicejskiej Filii jego Oficyna, 1941.
- Modlitwa na wojnę, London: Światopol [Światowy Związek Polaków z Zagranicy], 1947.
- Uczta zadżumionych, Paris: nakładem subskrybentów i autora, 1954.
- Złota Hramota, Paris: Instytut Literacki, 1954.
- Pieśń o Ukrainie. Z przekładem na język ukraiński Ś. Hordyńskiego [tekst po polsku i ukraińsku], Paris: Instytut Literacki, 1959.
- Kasydy i gazele, London: Oficyna Poetów i Malarzy, 1961.
- Jarzmo Kaudyńskie, London: Księgarnia Polska Orbis, 1969.
- W połowie wędrówki, London: Polska Fundacja Kulturalna, 1972.
- Dwie książki, Paris: Instytut Literacki, 1984.
- Mare nostrum, New York: Polander, 1986.
- Pamięci Sulamity, Toronto: Polski Fundusz Wydawniczy w Kanadzie, 1987.
- Dytyramby patetyczne, London: Polska Fundacja Kulturalna, 1988.
- List do kraju [selected poetry], Lublin: Wydawnictwo Katolickiego Uniwersytetu Lubelskiego, 1989.
- Poezje wybrane, Warsaw: Ludowa Spółdzielnia Wydawnicza, 1990.
- Wiersze i poematy, Warsaw: Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy, 1991.
- Elegia emigrancka, Lublin: Stowarzyszenie Pisarzy Polskich; Kraków: Instytut Literatury, 2021.
- Międzywojenne tomy poetyckie, Warsaw: Fundacja Augusta hrabiego Cieszkowskiego, 2023.
prose:
Ukrainian trilogy
- Komysze, London: Gryf, 1955.
- W stanicy, London: Gryf, 1958.
- Droga powrotna, London: Gryf, 1960.
Józef Zakrzewski’s history
- Czerwona wiosna, London: Polska Fundacja Kulturalna, 1965.
- Terminatorzy rewolucji, London: Polska Fundacja Kulturalna, 1966.
- Nożyce Dalili, London: Polska Fundacja Kulturalna, 1968.
- Rzeka graniczna, London: Polska Fundacja Kulturalna, 1970.
drama:
- Dramat w pięciu aktach, Lublin: Warsztat Kultury w Lublinie, 2021.
essays, journalism:
- Por nuestra libertad y la vuestra. Polonia sigue luchando, Madrid: Editora Mudial, 1945.
- Literaturas eslavas, Madrid: Atlas, 1946.
- Kassandra jest niepopularna. Wybór tekstów z „Orła Białego” z lat 1956–1980, Poznań: Wydawnictwo im. Lecha Zondka, 1990.
- Worek Judaszów, Warsaw: Interim, 1995.
- Naród jest nieśmiertelny, Poznań: Wers, 1996.
- Żywot człowieka gwałtownego. Wspomnienia, Warsaw: Editions Spotkania, 1997.
- Przeciw upiorom przeszłości. Myśli o Polsce i Ukrainie, Lublin: Wydawnictwo Test, 2015.
- Poeta wobec sejsmicznych ruchów historii, Paris: Instytut Literacki; Cracow–Warsaw: Instytut Książki. Dział Wydawnictw, 2017.
Translation works:
- Wiersze i przekłady, vol. 1, Lublin: Wydawnictwo Test, 2020 [translations from Belarussian and Ukrainian].
- Wiersze i przekłady, vol. 2, Lublin: Wydawnictwo Test, 2020 [translations from Spanish].
- Wiersze i przekłady, vol. 3, Lublin: Wydawnictwo Test, 2020 [translations from Russian].
from Russian:
- Aleksandr Błok, Wiersze włoskie, 2nd translator Kazimierz Andrzej Jaworski, Chełm: Biblioteka „Kameny”, 1935.
- U przyjaciół [the anthology of Russian poetry], Lublin: [b.w.], 1935.
- Abram Terc [i.e. Andriej Siniawski], Sąd idzie; anonim, Co to jest realizm socjalistyczny?, Paris: Instytut Literacki, 1959.
- Abram Terc [i.e. Andriej Siniawski], Opowieści fantastyczne, 2. trans. S. Bergholz [i.e. Aleksander Wat], Paris: Instytut Literacki, 1961.
- Abram Terc [i.e. Andriej Siniawski], Lubimow, Paris: Instytut Literacki, 1963.
- Aleksandr Sołżenicyn, Zagroda Matriony [short story], in: We własnych oczach. Antologia współczesnej literatury sowieckiej, Paris: Instytut Literacki, 1963.
- Abram Terc [i.e. Andriej Siniawski], Myśli niespodziewane, Paris: Instytut Literacki, 1965.
- Iwanow [i.e. A. Remizow], Czy istnieje życie na Marsie? Komedia (a może tragedia) w 3 aktach, Paris: Instytut Literacki, 1961.
- Galina Sieriebriakowa, Huragan, Paris: Instytut Literacki, 1967.
- Andriej Sacharow, Rozmyślania i postępie, pokojowym współistnieniu i wolności intelektualnej, Paris: Instytut Literacki, 1968.
- Aleksandr Sołżenicyn, Oddział chorych na raka, Paris: Instytut Literacki, 1971.
- Nikołaj Arżak [i.e. Julij Daniel], Mówi Moskwa, Wrocław: Universitas, 1981.
into Spanish:
- Karol Wojtyła, Poesías, Madrid: Biblioteca Autores Cristianos, 2021.
Translations
English:
- The thickets [Komysze], trans. Charles S. Kraszewski, Budapest: Central European University Press, 2024.
Ukrainian:
- Проти упирів минулого. Думки про Польщу та Україну [Przeciw upiorom przeszłości. Myśli o Polsce i Ukrainie], trans. Andrij Pawłyszyn, Lublin: Wydawnictwo Test; Lwiw: Wydawnictwo Astrolabia, 2016.
- Очерети [Komysze], trans. Andrij Bondar, Kraków: Instytut Literatury; Ternopil: Wydawnictwo „Krok”, 2022.
- У станиці [W stanicy], trans. Andrij Bondar, Kraków: Instytut Literatury; Ternopil: Wydawnictwo „Krok”, 2023.
- Зворотний шлях [Droga powrotna], trans. Andrij Bondar, Kraków: Instytut Literatury; Ternopil: Wydawnictwo „Krok”, 2024.
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