Born: September 13, 1894 in Lodz (Russian partition of Poland, presently Lodz, Poland)
Died: December 27, 1953 in Zakopane, Poland
Early days. Tuwim was born into a family of assimilated Jews. Both of his parents, Izydor- a bank clerk- and Adela nee Krukowska, were educated people and provided Julian with a comfortable middle class upbringing. His mother became mentally ill after losing her husband in 1935. She was murdered by the Nazis in 1942. During 1904-1914 he attended the Meskie Gimnazjum Rzadowe in Lodz. He was not a particularly diligent student and had to repeat the sixth grade. In 1905 the family had to flee temporarily from Lodz (Russian partition of Poland) to Breslau, Germany (presently Wroclaw, Poland) in order to escape possible repercussions following Izydor's involvement in the Revolution of 1905. In 1911 Tuwim debuted with a translation into Esperanto of some Staff's and Slowacki's poems. In 1913 his first poem was published in Kurier Warszawski. In 1916 he moved to Warsaw to study at the university but he finished only one semester of Law and one semester of Philosophy.
Career. Initially Tuwim's poetry represented a decisive break with turn-of-the-century mannerism. It was characterized by an expression of vitality, optimism, and praise of urban life. In his poems Tuwim often used vernacular language and slang as well as poetic dialogue. In his later collections he drew more heavily from romantic and classicist traditions, while perfecting his form and style, and becoming a virtuoso of word and language. From the very beginning and throughout his artistic career, Tuwim was satirically inclined. He supplied sketches and monologues to numerous cabarets. In his poetry and columns, he derided obscurantism and bureaucracy as well as militaristic and nationalistic trends in politics. His best satiric poem is regarded to be the burlesque, "Bal w Operze" (The Ball at the Opera, 1936). In 1918 Tuwim co-founded the cabaret, "Picador," and worked as a writer or artistic director with many other cabarets such as "Czarny kot" (1917-1919), "Qui pro Quo" (1919-1932), "Banda" and "Stara Banda" (1932-1935) and finally "Cyrulik Warszawski" (1935-1939). Co-founder and leader of the Skamander group of experimental poets with Antoni Slonimski and Jaroslaw Iwaszkiewicz in 1919. During the Polish-Soviet war of 1920 he worked in the Press Office of the Commander-in-Chief, Jozef Pilsudski. Tuwim was mostly known for his contribution to children's literature. Since 1924 Tuwim was a staff writer at "Wiadomosci Literackie" where he wrote a weekly column "Camera Obscura". He also wrote for the satirical magazines "Szpilki" and "Cyrulik Warszawski". His poem "Do prostego czlowieka" (To the Common Man), first published in 1929 in "Robotnik" (Workman), started a storm of personal attacks on Tuwim, mostly from anti-Semitic right wing circles criticizing Tuwim's pacifistic views.
World War II and after. In 1939, at the beginning of World War II and Nazi Germany's occupation of Poland, Tuwim emigrated first through Romania to France, and after France's capitulation, to Brazil, by way of Portugal, and finally to the USA, where he settled in 1942. In 1939-41 he collaborated with a conservative emigre weekly "Wiadomosci Polskie", but broke off the collaboration due to differences in views on the attitude towards the Soviet Union. In 1942-46 he worked with the monthly "Nowa Polska" published in London, and with leftist Polish-American newspapers. He was affiliated with the Polish section of the International Workers Organization (Communist Front organization?) from 1942. He was also a member of the Association of Writers From Poland (a member of the board in 1943). During this time he wrote "Kwiaty Polskie" (Polish Flowers), an epic poem in which he remembers with nostalgia his early childhood in Lodz. In April 1944 he published a manifesto, entitled "My, Zydzi Polscy" (We, Polish Jews). In 1946 Tuwim returned to Poland. In 1947-1950 he was the artistic director of Teatr Nowy in Warsaw. Some of his late poems of better quality, which he kept to himself, were found among his belongings after the poet's death. Although Tuwim was well known for serious poetry he also wrote poetry for children for example a masterly poem-onomatopoeia "Lokomotywa" (Locomotive), Ptasie radio, Pan Hilary, Slon Trabalski, Bambo. Tuwim along with Jan Brzechwa are the two most famous authors of children's poetry in Polish. He also wrote well-regarded translations of Pushkin and other Russian poets. Russian poet Tarakhovskaya translated most of Tuwim's children's poetry into Russian.
Family. In 1919 Tuwim married Stefania Marchew. They had one adopted daughter, Ewa Tuwim-Wozniak.
Death. Tuwim suffered whole his life from depression. He died form heart attack and was buried on the military cemetery Powazki in Warsaw.
Works. 1918: Czyhanie na Boga (Lurking for God); 1920:Sokrates tanczacy (Dancing Socrates); 1921: Siodma jesien (The Seventh Autumn); 1923: Wierszy tom czwarty; 1924: Czary i czarty polskie (Sorcery and Deuces of Poland); Wypisy czarnoksieskie (The Reader of Sorcery); 1925: A to pan zna? (And do you know it); Czarna msza; Tysiac dziwow prawdziwych; 1926: Slowa we krwi; Tajemnice amuletow i talizmanow; 1929: Rzecz czarnoleska; 1932: Strofy o poznym lecie; Jezdziec miedziany ; Biblia cyganska i inne wiersze; 1934: Jarmark rym�w; 1935: Polski slownik pijacki i antologia bachiczna; 1936: Tresc gorejaca; Bal w Operze (published 1946); 1940-1946: Kwiaty polskie ; 1950: Pegaz deba, czyli panoptikum poetyckie; 1951: Piorem i piorkiem
Awards 1928, 1948 Lodz Literary Prize; 1935 Polish PEN Club award; 1949 Doctorate honoris causa from Lodz University; 1952 State Prize of first degree.
Songs to Tuwim's poems. Karol Szymanowski ;Witold Lutoslawski ; Zygmunt Konieczny; David Bruce.
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Piotr Lisiewicz: biography (in Polish)
English translations of some of his works:
Constance J. Ostrowski
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