Born in 1932 in Dwikozy near Sandomierz, Myśliwski is the author of novels and plays that are usually discussed in the context of 'peasant literature', dealing with the problems of the identities of province and its inhabitants in times of historical change.
However, Myśliwski's work transcends this literary category thanks to its philosophical and anthropological importance. Mysliwski is convinced that peasant culture includes eternal values of human existence and the most universal forces that allow people to shape their own lives (tilling the soil, building houses, passing on family traditions). The philosophical underpinning of his work is the conviction that people achieve self-knowledge by rebelling against their fate.
Myśliwski's first novel was Naked Orchard (1967), which surprised the critics with its maturity, substantiality and exceptional - in terms of European, as well as Polish literature - loving portrait by a son of his father. The play The Steward (1978) and the novel The Palace (1970) reveal a sharper conflict between the inherited destiny and the longed-for destiny. Myśliwski's broadest epic of the peasant fate is the novel Stone upon Stone (1984), a masterpiece of past-war Polish literature, the apotheosis of the peasant tradition, Myśliwski's best book, and one of the most important achievements in Polish literature. Myśliwski's most recent novel, The Horizon (1996), won the 1997 Nike prize. It is a summation of his earlier work but also contains new accents. It is perhaps the only epic of fulfilled nostalgia in the Polish literature of the 1990s. It is about the possibility of returning to lost family experiences. Myśliwski's status as a writer results from the fact that he has taken up all the essential issues of the contemporary peasantry, while raising peasant prose to the level of a dialogue with the universals of human existence.
Selected Bibliography:
- Nagi sad (Naked Orchard). Warsaw: PIW, 1967.
- Pałac (The Palace). Warsaw: PIW, 1970.
- Kamień na kamieniu (Stone upon Stone). Warsaw: PIW, 1984.
- Drzewo (The Tree). Szczecin: Glob, 1989.
- Widnokrąg (The Horizon). Warsaw: Muza, 1997.
- Requiem dla gospodyni (Requiem for the Housewife). Warsaw: Muza, 2000.
- Traktat o łuskaniu fasoli (Treatise on Shelling Beans) Znak, Kraków 2006 ( 2007 Nike Award)
- Ostatnie rozdanie (Last Deal), Znak, Kraków 2013.
Selected translations
English:
- The palace (Pałac]), London Chester Springs, P. Owen, 1991.
- Stone upon stone (Kamień na kamieniu), trans. Bill Johnston, New York: Archipelago Books, 2011
- A Treatise on Shelling Beans (Traktat o łuskaniu fasoli), transl. Bill Johnston, New York: Archipelago Books, 2013
French:
- L'Art d'écrosser les haricots (Traktat o łuskaniu fasoli), trans. Margot Carlier, Paris: Actes Sud, 2010
Hebrew:
- Traktat o łuskaniu fasoli, trans. Zajdman Anat, Kinneret, Dvir-Publishing House Or Yehuda, 2010
Hungarian:
- Pásztorkastély (Pałac), Budapest: Magvető, 1986.
German:
- Der nackte Garten (Nagi sad), Berlin, Weimar: Aufbau-Verlag, 1974.
- Stein auf Stein (Kamień na kamieniu), Berlin, Weimar: Aufbau-Verlag, 1990.
- Der helle Horizont (Widnokrąg), München: btb, 2005.
Italian:
- L'arte di sgranare i fagioli (Traktat o łuskaniu fasoli), trans. Alessandro Amenta, Rzym: Gaffi Editore, 2012
Russian:
- Kamen' na kamen' (Kamień na kamieniu), trans. Ksenia Starosielska, Moskva: Raduga, 1987.
Source: www.polska2000.pl, Copyright: Stowarzyszenie Willa Decjusza
