Born in Radomsko, central Poland, in 1921, Różewicz drew from the hardship of war and occupation to create his extensive and remarkable oeuvre, for which he was often mentioned as a candidate for the Nobel Prize.
Read an in-depth biography of Różewicz here.
The poet made his debut in 1947 with a volume called Niepokój (Anxiety) . According to Różewicz , experiencing war made it impossible to write and poetry in the same way. He was one of the first poets who reacted to the cruelty of the times by rejecting romantic ornamentalism and using poetry as a cathartic medium. Różewicz published over fifty volumes of poetry, among them the notable and sorrowful Mother Departs in 1999, whose translation into English was named one of 2013’s Notable Literary Translations by World Literature Today.
Read more about Mother Departs here.
Różewicz was also a masterful playwright, responsible for introducing a new type of hero, often without a clearly defined identity, passive , intrinsically unsettled. He described his own theater as realistic-poetic. Różewicz’s most famous plays include The Card Index (1958), The Old Lady Sits Waiting (1969), and The Trap (1982).