Stefan Themerson

Stefan Themerson

Stefan Themerson (born October 12 ^{. Jul} / 25. October  1910 ^greg. In Plock , Russian Empire ; † 6. September 1988 in London , United Kingdom ) was a Polish , later British poet , novelist , filmmaker , publisher and philosopher .

Life

Stefan Themerson was born in Płock in what was then the Russian Empire on January 25, 1910 and died in London on September 6, 1988. His father, Mieczysław Themerson, was a doctor of Jewish origin, a social reformer and a talented writer, who published several works. His mother, also of Jewish origin, was Ludwika Smulewicz. During the First World War , Dr. Themerson as a medical officer in the tsarist army ; his family lived in Riga , St. Petersburg and Velikije Luki . In 1918 they returned to Płock, which was now in Poland, which had regained sovereignty during World War I. There Stefan attended the König-Władysław-Jagiełło-Gymnasium. At this time he showed his first interests in photography and built a radio receiver . In 1928 Themerson began studying physics at the University of Warsaw , and after a year architecture at the Technical University of Warsaw , but in reality he spent most of his time in photography, collage and filmmaking. His first literary publication was also from 1928. He never officially finished his studies, but gradually turned away to pursue his other interests. During his studies he also met the art student Franciszka Weinles, whom he married in 1931.

From 1931 to 1935 the Themersons lived and worked in Warsaw. Stefan wrote articles for various magazines as well as prose and poetry for school books. He also wrote at least ten children's books, for which Franciszka made the illustrations. Pan Tom buduje dom ( Mr. Tom is building a house ) is still in print in Poland to this day. Stefan also experimented with photograms and made five experimental short films with his wife: Apteka (Apotheke, 1930), Europa (1931–1932), Drobiazg Melodyjny ( Musical Moment , 1933), Zwarcie ( Kurzschluss , 1935) and Przygoda Człowieka Poczciwego ( The Adventure of a good man , 1937). The films were screened along with other experimental films and are largely lost today. After all, the screenplay for Europe , which is based on a poem by Anatol Stern , was later published by the Themersons in their own publishing house Gaberbocchus Press , illustrated by still photos from the film; Apteka was later remade on the basis of descriptions, still photos and scripts. In 1935, the Themersons and other young filmmakers founded a company, the SAF ( Spółdzielnia Autorów Filmowych ).

In 1936 and 1937 the Themersons visited Paris , then the world center of avant-garde art, and London, where they met Moholy-Nagy and other experimental artists. After returning to Poland, they showed their films for the first time. They also published a review of F (ilm) A (rtistique) with Stefan as editor and Franciszka as artistic director; after two issues the magazine was discontinued. In the winter of 1937 they moved to Paris, where they found a circle of artists and writers, many of them Poland, where they felt comfortable. Her plan was to stay in Paris. Themerson wrote for Polish school books and Polish publications in Paris. At the beginning of the war, in 1939, Themerson volunteered for the Polish army in France, which was formed after the German and Soviet armies invaded Poland and the subsequent partition of Poland.

In 1940 Themerson was drafted into a Polish infantry regiment , just in time to witness the German invasion and the collapse of the Allies. He later recalled vividly marching day and night in the summer heat to St-Nazaire , where his regiment was disbanded in June. The officers abandoned their men, who hid where they could. Themerson traveled all over France, visited occupied Paris and Toulouse , where he was able to contact Franciszka again with the help of the Polish Red Cross . She had worked as a cartographer for the Polish government in exile and had fled from Paris to Normandy and later to London. Themerson spent time in refugee camps , worked as a farm laborer and spent over a year at the Hôtel de la Poste in Voiron , which was run by the Polish Red Cross. Here he began work on the novel Professor Mmaa's lecture in Polish and wrote the long poem Croquis dans les Ténèbres ( Sketches in the Dark ).

Towards the end of 1942 Themerson came to Lisbon via Marseille and Spain , from where he was flown to England by the Royal Air Force . There he met his wife again and reported again to the Polish army. With the army he went to Scotland for a time , where he completed the professor Mmaa ; then he was seconded to a film unit of the Polish Ministry of Information and Communication in London. There he made two short films with Franciszka: Calling Mr Smith , a report on Nazi crimes in Poland, and The Eye and the Ear , inspired by four songs by Szymanowski . In 1944, at a meeting of the PEN Club to celebrate the three hundredth anniversary of the appearance of John Milton's Areopagitica , Themerson met Kurt Schwitters , who remained a close friend until his death. Other close friendships he made at this time connected him with Jankel Adler , Julian Trevelyan and Anthony Froshaug . Also in 1944, the Themersons moved to Maida Vale , where they lived until their death.

Stefan and Franciszka Themerson published books in their own publishing house, Gaberbocchus Press (“Jabberwocky Verlag”) from 1948 to 1979 , many of them with Franciszka's illustrations and sometimes in collaboration with the translator Barbara Wright . These included works by Guillaume Apollinaire and Kurt Schwitters , the first English translations of Alfred Jarrys Ubu Roi and Raymond Queneau's Exercises de Style, and The Good Citizen's Alphabet by Bertrand Russell , who also wrote a warm preface to Professor Mmaa's lecture .

Works

• Themerson, Stefan: Kurt Schwitters in England . Gaberbocchus Press, London 1958.
• Themerson, Stefan: Professor Mmaa's lecture: [Phantast. Novel] . Deutscher Taschenbuch-Verlag, Munich 1972, ISBN 3-423-00850-4 .
• Themerson, Stefan: Woof woof or who murdered Richard Wagner? Affholderbach u. Strohmann, Siegen 1987, ISBN 3-922524-39-7 .
• Themerson, Stefan: Bayamus and the theater of semantic poetry: Roman . Reclam, Leipzig 1992, ISBN 3-379-01441-9 .
• Themerson, Stefan: The ultra-intelligent machine: a dialogue . S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1997, ISBN 3-10-080014-1 .

Web links

• Bibliography of Stefan Themerson's works
• Stefan and Franciszka Themerson archive
• Gaberbocchus Press website
• Description of the remake of Apteka (Engl.)