Born in Sankt Valentin (Lower Austria) in 1943, he is considered one of the most important contemporary Polish poets, as well as is a major translator and publisher. He was regarded as one of the "Generation of 1968," poets whose careers were accompanied at the start by the political events of March 1968, and December 1970. His first poems were characterized by an abundance of poetic devices and an accumulation of images. The world was depicted as hostile and threatening, and reality as a nightmare of chaos, emptiness and nothingness. The lives of the protagonists of the poems were characterized by unknowing, a feeling of having been "expelled" from an incomprehensible reality, and spasmodic escapes. This oppressive vision could be interpreted in political as well as ethical or metaphysical categories. An important element in Krynicki's poetry at the time was the way it concentrated on language in order to discern the falsehoods perpetrated in language by the totalitarian ideology. The goal was to escape from the lies of communist "new-speak".
In 1975, he was a signatory of the "Protest of 59" against proposed changes in the Polish constitution. He associated himself with the opposition and engaged in clandestine political activity; as a result, he was banned from official publication in 1976-1980. He was awarded the Kościelski Prize in 1976. In 1988, he founded the a5 publishing house, which concentrates on contemporary Polish poetry, including the work of Wisława Szymborska. He has translated such German writers as Brecht, Gottfried Benn, Paul Celan and Reiner Kunze. After spending most of his life in Poznań, he now lives in Krakow.
Over time the oeuvre of the author of Organizm Zbiorowy started dramatically. Heavy Baroque poems were replaced with ascetic multipoetic forms. As one critic notes, in lieu of escapes, his poems are impregnated with pursuing an aim, a spiritual pilgrimage. Krynicki’s poetic work developed according to the imperative of self-improvement, cleansing from the lies of the world and not succumbing to void (understood in different ways). Poetic miniatures were not solely supposed become a work of art meant to shock the audience but rather a vehicle, a space of contemplation and co-feeling with the world. In fact, one of his trademarks is supplementing previous versions of works. Krynicki reprints them in subsequent, often numerous versions with the assumption that a poem is never finished and left on its own but rather a voice which can be reprojected, developed as a step on the way to the highest clarity and simplicity. Serenity and Norwidian concealment became the supreme gesture.
Published in 2014, Krynicki’s book of poetry Haiku: Haiku Mistrzów (Haiku. Masters’ Haiku) appeared nearly ten years after Kamień, Szron (Stone, Frost; nominated for the Nike Literary Award in 2005). Apart from his poems, he also included translations of Japanese masters, who guided the ex-representative of the Polish New Wave in the art of haiku. They include Matsuo Bashō, Yosa Buson, Kobayashi Issa and Masaoka Shiki. As Krynicki does not speak Japanese, his work is a paraphrase rather than faithful translation. The poet admits in the afterword that he worked with English, Czech, German and Russian renditions. There’s nothing wrong about this approach – poetry has its own rules. After all, Miłosz did not know the source language and he translated haiku.
Source: www.polska2000.pl; copyright: Stowarzyszenie Willa Decjusza, update: AP, July 2019.
Selected Bibliography
- Pęd pogoni, pęd ucieczki (The Impulse to Pursue, the Impulse to Flee). Warsaw-Poznań: ZSP, 1968,
- Akt urodzenia (Birth Certificate). Poznań: Wydawnictwo Poznańskie, 1969,
- Organizm zbiorowy (The Collective Organism). Krakow: WL, 1975,
- Nasze życie rośnie. Wiersze (Our Life is Growing: Poems). Paris: Instytut Literacki, 1978,
- Niewiele więcej. Wiersze z notatnika 78-79 (Not Much More. Poems From the Notebook 78-79). Kraków: Krakowska Oficyna Studentów, 1981,
- Jeżeli w jakimś kraju (If in Some Country). Underground publisher S.i.s.n, 1982,
- Ocalenie z nicości (Salvation from Nothingness). Krakow: Świt, 1983,
- Niepodlegli nicości (Independent of Nothingness: Selected and Revised Poems and Translations). Warsaw: NOWA, 1988,
- Magnetyczny punkt. Wybrane wiersze i przekłady (The Magnetic Point: Selected Poems and Translations). Warsaw: CiS, 1996,
- Kamień, szron (Stone, Frost), Kraków: Wydawnictwo a5, 2005,
- Wiersze wybrane (Selected Poems), Kraków: Wydawnictwo a5, 2009,
- Kamień, szron (Stone, Frost), Kraków: Wydawnictwo słowo/obraz terytoria, 2011,
- Przekreślony początek (Crossed-out Beginning), Wrocław: Biuro Literackie, 2013,
- Haiku. Haiku mistrzów (Haiku. Masters' Haiku), Kraków: Wydawnictwo a5, 2014.
Selected translations
Belarussian
- Dakranucca (transl. by Andrèj Hadanovič). Mìnsk: Logvìnaŭ, 2013.
Bulgarian
- Magnetična točka (transl. by Vera Deânova). Sofia, Stigmati,1997,
- Kam’k, skrež (transl. by Vera Deânova). Sofia, Stigmati, 2011.
Czech
- Kámen, jinovatka (transl. by Václav Burian). Olomouc: Burian a Tichák 2006,
- Magnetický bod (transl. by Lenka Daňhelová). Ostrava: Protimluv, 2010.
English
- Citizen R. K. does not live: poems of Ryszard Krynicki (transl. by Stanisław Barańczak, Robert A Davies, John M Gogol, Clare Cavanagh, Grażyna Drabik, Magnus J. Kryński, Robert A. Maguire). Forest Grove: Mr. Cogito Press, 1985.
- Magnetic Point: Selected Poems 1968-2014 (transl. by Clare Cavanagh). New York: New Directions, 2017.
- Our Life Grows (transl. by Alissa Valles). New York: NYRB Poets, 2018.
German
- Um niemanden zu verletzen. Gedichte aus Notizbüchern (transl. by Karl Dedecius). Neu Isenburg: Tiessen, 1991,
- Wunde der Wahrheit. Gedichte (transl. by Karl Dedecius). Frankfurt: Suhrkamp, 1991,
- Stein aus der neuen Welt (transl. by Esther Kinsky). Hamburg: Rospo Verlag, 2000.
Hebrew
- Nekuda magnetit (transl. by David Weinfeld). Ra'ananah: Even Hoshen, 2011.
Hindi
- w źrenicy kamyka / ret ke ek kaṇmeṁ (transl. by Renata Czekalska, Aśok Wadźpeji). New Delhi: Vani Prakaśan, 2017.
Italian
- Il punto magnetico (transl. by Francesca Fornari). Udine: Forum, 2011.
- Abitiamo attraverso la pelle (transl. by Francesca Fornari). Novara: Interlinea, 2012.
Slovak
- Magnetický bod (transl. by Karol Chmel). Bratislava: Drewo a Srd, 2003.
Swedish
- Planeten Fantasmagori (transl. by Joanna Helander; Bo Persson). Bottna, Hamburgsund: Cafe Existens, 1994.
Romanian
- Poeme alese (transl. by Constantin Geambaşu). Timişoara: Excelsior Art, 2014.