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Friendship with Monika Żeromska

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Joining the PEN Club
Julia Hartwig Poet
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Oboje zresztą... myśmy tam oboje zapisaliśmy się do Pen Clubu. Taki był wynik, że właściwie w ’90-tych latach Artur został prezesem Pen Clubu polskiego i wiceprezesem Pen Clubu międzynarodowego. Miał masę zajęć w których... dlatego troszkę mniej pisał, ale poprzednio bardzo intensywnie pisał i przede wszystkim bardzo dużo tłumaczył, bo jak mówię, żyliśmy raczej z takiej drobnicy literackiej, ale każdy jednak coś tam pisał, zawsze był taki... taka była potrzeba czy też czas był na to – trochę czasu było. Wtedy bardzo się rozwijało życie towarzyskie między... między ludźmi sztuki – to muszę to określić tak ogólnie – i myśmy uczestniczyli nie tylko formalnie, ale wtedy był... takim bardzo żywym ośrodkiem spotkań był SPATiF w którym... w którym bywaliśmy, w którym często się z kimś umawialiśmy wieczorem – na przykład ze Słonimskimi z którymi się bardzo przyjaźniliśmy. I... i właściwie tam... tam poznałam Nachta-Samborskiego, tam poznałam wielu architektów. To byli... byli... była masa bardzo zdolnych ludzi i ja tak ze smutkiem patrzę – chociaż każdy ma taką skłonność – że jak gdyby dzisiaj tych ludzi jest mniej – tak mi się przynajmniej wydaje – ale pewno ulegam złudzeniu i to wszystko się rozwinie.

We both... both of us joined the PEN Club. The result of this was that in the 90's Artur was made chairman of the Polish PEN Club and vice-chairman of the International PEN Club. He was very busy which is why he wrote a little less although previously, he'd written very intensively and primarily did a great deal of translating because as I've mentioned, we lived off literary bits and pieces but both of us kept writing, there was always a need for it and time to do it, there was always a bit of time. At that time, social life among people associated with the arts – I have to put it broadly – was growing, and we took part not just formally, but at the time, a very lively social centre was established at SPATiF [Stowarzyszenie Polskich Artystów Teatru i Filmu (Association of Polish Theatre and Film Performers)] which we used to attend and where we often used to meet up with friends in the evenings, for instance with the Słonimskis with whom we were good friends. That's where I met Nacht-Samborski and many architects. There was a great number of very talented people and today, I observe with sadness, although I suppose everyone does this, that there seem to be fewer people of this ilk or maybe that's only how it seems to me to be, but perhaps that's just an illusion I've fallen prey to and everything will still develop.

Born to a Polish father and a Russian mother, Julia Hartwig (1921-2017) was a Polish poet, essayist, translator and author of children's books. She studied at the University of Warsaw, the Catholic University in Lublin and the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. Czesław Miłosz called her 'the grande dame of Polish poetry'. Julia Hartwig was one of the few poets in Poland who made masterly use of poetic prose. She translated poems by Apollinaire, Rimbaud, Max Jacob, Cendrars and Supervielle, and published monographs on Apollinaire and Gerard de Nerval. She also translated from English, and published a large anthology of American poetry which she co-edited in 1992 with her late husband, the poet Artur Międzyrzecki.

Listeners: Andrzej Wolski

Film director and documentary maker, Andrzej Wolski has made around 40 films since 1982 for French television, the BBC, TVP and other TV networks. He specializes in portraits and in historical films. Films that he has directed or written the screenplay for include Kultura, which he co-directed with Agnieszka Holland, and KOR which presents the history of the Worker’s Defence Committee as told by its members. Andrzej Wolski has received many awards for his work, including the UNESCO Grand Prix at the Festival du Film d’Art.

Tags: PEN Club, SPATiF, Stowarzyszenie Polskich Artystów Teatru i Filmu, Association of Polish Theatre and Film Performers, Polish PEN Club, International PEN Club, Artur Międzyrzecki, Antoni Słonimski, Janina Konarska-Słonimska, Artur Nacht-Samborski

Duration: 1 minute, 27 seconds

Date story recorded: June 2010

Date story went live: 14 June 2011