Jan Kott

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Jan Kott (born October 27, 1914 in Warsaw , † December 22, 2001 in Santa Monica , California ) was a Polish critic and author .

Professorship and exile

Jan Kott was one of the main European theater theoretician of the presence specializing in the interpretation of Shakespeare - dramas , where Shakespeare today belongs from 1965 to the standard works of modern Shakespeare research. During the Second World War he survived the Warsaw Ghetto with the help of friends.

Jan Kott was a professor of literary studies from 1949, and in 1957 he resigned from the Communist Party. As a committed publicist, he signed in 1964 the letter written by 34 intellectuals against censorship and the restriction of creative freedoms . In 1968 he was expelled from Warsaw University and from then on faced personal attacks. Jan Kott emigrated to the United States in 1965, where he initially received a grant from the Ford Foundation. From 1969 until his retirement in 1983 he taught at Stony Brook University .

Theater theory

Impressed by a Shakespeare production by Peter Brook , seen in Paris in 1955, a new reading of the classics began for him . His personal experiences helped him. In 1965 he summarized his Shakespeare sketches in a book. This work made him known worldwide and became the most widely read literary and critical work of a Polish intellectual. His interpretations of Shakespeare were groundbreaking for the theater from London to Tokyo . In doing so, he has had a lasting impact on the dramaturgical concepts of numerous contemporary productions around the world, and these are still incorporated into every Shakespeare production without being named.

Jan Kott interpreted the Elizabethan playwright with a view to the existential-political experiences of the 20th century. He contrasts Shakespeare, Ionesco and Beckett with the problems of totalitarian states. The exiled Pole Jan Kott taught at Yale and Berkeley Universities . He died in 2001 at the age of 87.

bibliography

  • Podwojony świat (1936, poems)
  • Mitologia i realizm. Szkice literackie (1946)
  • Węgiel (1946, essays)
  • Po prostu. Szkice i zaczepki (1946)
  • O społecznym awansie (1947, essays)
  • O "Lalce" Bolesława Prusa (1948)
  • Szkoła klasyków (1949)
    • German: The school of classics. Translated by Josef Papack. Henschel, Berlin 1954.
  • Nowy Świętoszek (1950, comedy, with Stanisław Dygat )
  • Trembecki w świetle rękopisów i pierwodruków (1950)
  • Trwałe wartości literatury polskiego Oświecenia (1951)
  • Wiktor Hugo - pisarz walczący (1952)
  • Jak wam się podoba (3 parts, 1955–1962, theater reviews )
  • Postęp i głupstwo. Szkice (1956, sketches, travel notes, literary criticism, memories, 2 parts)
  • Szkice o Szekspirze (1961)
  • Szekspir współczesny (1965)
  • Aloes. Dzienniki i małe szkice (1969)
  • Zjadanie bogów. Szkice o tragedii greckiej (1986, English edition: The Eating of the Gods: An Interpretation of Greek Tragedy , 1974)
    • German: Gott-Essen. Interpretations of Greek tragedies. Translated by Peter Lachmann from the Polish manuscript. Piper, Munich 1975, ISBN 3-492-02108-5 . Reprint: Alexander Verlag, Berlin 1991, ISBN 3-923854-53-6 .
  • Kamienny potok. Szkice (1981)
  • Przyczynek do biografii (1990)
  • Pisma wybrane (1991, 3 parts)
  • Płeć Rozalindy. Interpretacje. Marlowe, Szekspir, Webster, Büchner, Gautier (1992)
  • Nowy Jonasz i inne szkice (1994)
  • Bajeczki dla Lidusi (1994)
  • Kadysz. Strony o Tadeuszu Kantorze (1997)
  • Lustro. O ludziach i teatrze (2000)
  • Powiastki dla wnuczek (2002)

German compilations:

  • Spectacle, spectacle: tendencies of modern world theater Selection and translation from English and French by Sylvia List. Piper, Munich 1972, ISBN 3-492-00344-3 .
  • The body's memory. Essays on literature and theater. Translated by Agnieszka Grzybkowska. Alexander Verlag, Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-923854-51-X .
  • Life in installments. Attempt an autobiography. Translated by Agnieszka Grzybkowska. Alexander Verlag, Berlin 1993, ISBN 3-923854-66-8 .

literature

  • C. Bernd Sucher (Ed.): Theater Lexikon. Volume 1: Christine Dössel: authors, directors, actors, dramaturges, stage designers, critics. Deutscher Taschenbuch-Verlag, Munich 1995, ISBN 3-423-03322-3 ( dtv 3322).
  • Program of the Künstlerhaus Bethanien Berlin, international directing seminars for film and theater, Transformtheater Berlin and Filmhaus Berlin, 1983 to 1988

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Kott, Jan
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Polish critic and author
DATE OF BIRTH October 27, 1914
PLACE OF BIRTH Warsaw
DATE OF DEATH December 22, 2001
Place of death Santa Monica , California