Adam Zagajewski

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Adam Zagajewski (2009)

Adam Zagajewski (born June 21, 1945 in Lemberg , Ukrainian SSR ) is a Polish writer , poet and essayist .

Life

Adam Zagajewski spent his childhood and school days in Gliwice and studied psychology and philosophy at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow . He made his debut as a poet in 1972 and belonged to the Nowa Fala (New Wave) movement. Zagajewski is a member of the Polish Writers' Union (since 1972), the PEN (since 1978) and, since 1999, the Academy of Arts (Berlin) .

In 1975 he signed the letter of 59 , in which 66 Polish intellectuals openly opposed a constitutional amendment, which u. a. the leading role of the Communist Party of Poland and the alliance with the USSR should be enshrined in the constitution. In 1976 he joined the Committee for the Defense of Workers ( Komitet Obrony Robotników, KOR ) as a civil rights activist . Because of his critical attitude to the communist regime, his books were banned from publication in the People's Republic of Poland from 1976 to 1989. After martial law was imposed in Poland, Zagajewski went into exile in Paris in 1981/82 via West Berlin and the USA . From 1988 onwards he was a visiting professor at the University of Houston . In 1999 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences . In 2002 he returned to Poland; he lives with his wife in Krakow . Zagajewski has been teaching literature at the University of Chicago since 2007 .

The works of Adam Zagajewski were translated into German by the Slavists Karl Dedecius , Christa Vogel and Henryk Bereska and, like the works of many other Polish authors, published by Carl Hanser Verlag . Zagajewski's poems and essays translated into German appear regularly in the journal Sinn und Form published by the Akademie der Künste .

In 2015 the German Academy for Language and Poetry elected him a member. In 2019 he was elected as an honorary foreign member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters .

reception

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung once described Zagajewski as "the most important poet in Poland"; Andreas Dorschel calls his poems "worldly and thoughtful".

Works (selection)

Poetry

  • Komunikat (1972)
  • Sklepy mięsne (1975)
  • Cunning. Oda do wielości (1983)
  • Jechać do Lwowa (1985)
  • Płótno (1990)
  • Ziemia ognista (1994)
  • Trzej aniołowie (1998)
  • Pragnienie (1999)
  • Powrót (2003)
  • Anteny (2005)
  • Niewidzialna ręka (2009)
  • Asymetria (2014)
  • Hourly news. Poems from Ten Years (1987)
  • Poems (1989)
  • Mysticism for Beginners (1997)
  • The meadows of Burgundy. Selected poems (2003)
  • Invisible hand . Selection of poems. Translated from Polish by Renate Schmidgall , Hanser, Munich 2012

Novels

  • Ciepło, zimno (1975)
  • Słuch absolutny (1979), German translation: The absolute hearing (1982)
  • Cienka kreska (1983), German translation: The thin line (1985)

Essay writing

  • Świat nieprzedstawiony (1974)
  • Drugi oddech (1978)
  • Solidarność i samotność (1986)
  • Dwa miasta (1991)
  • W cudzym pięknie (1998)
  • Obrona żarliwości (2002)
  • Poeta rozmawia z filozofem (2007)
  • Lekka przesada (2011)
    • The little eternity of art: diary without a date . From the polish. by Bernhard Hartmann and Renate Schmidgall . Edition Lyrik Kabinett at Hanser, Munich 2014
  • Poezja dla początkujących (2017)
  • Poland. State in the shadow of the Soviet Union (1987)
  • I'm floating over Krakow: memory pictures (2000, contains Dwa miasta and W cudzym pięknie )
  • In memoriam Henryk Bereska . In: Sinn und Form , 4/2006, p. 465.
  • Fragments of a non-existent diary . In: Sinn und Form, 4/2008, pp. 437–447.
  • Defending Passion (2008)
  • Martyrs and comedians or what was poetry like in the 20th century? . In: Sinn und Form, 5/2009, pp. 662–666.
  • About loyalty. Imre Kertész's patient work on the myth of the novel . In: Sinn und Form, 6/2009, pp. 751–756.
  • A young classic. About Sándor Márai . In: Sinn und Form, 2/2010, pp. 220–225.
  • Our Europe . In: Sinn und Form 1/2011, pp. 5–10.

Awards (selection)

literature

  • Marko Martin : The bright yes and the necessary no. Between aesthetics and dissidence - an encounter with the Polish poet Adam Zagajewski on the occasion of his 70th birthday. In: Literary World , June 20, 2015, p. 7.

Web links

Commons : Adam Zagajewski  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Press release: New members of the German Academy for Language and Poetry , June 16, 2015.
  2. ↑ Newly elected members 2019. American Academy of Arts and Letters, accessed May 30, 2019 .
  3. ↑ FAZ No. 36, February 11, 2012, p. 6.
  4. ↑ Andreas Dorschel : In the fist of time. Adam Zagajewski visits the meadows of Burgundy , in: Süddeutsche Zeitung , December 15, 2003, p. 14.
personal data
SURNAME Zagajewski, Adam
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Polish writer
DATE OF BIRTH June 21, 1945
PLACE OF BIRTH Lviv