Prominent Poles
Sławomir (Piotr Pawel) Mrożek, playwright, short-story writer, cartoonist.
Born: June 29, 1930, Borzecin, Poland
Summary. Mrożek's sharply comical plays belong to the genre of Theater of the Absurd and create their effects through illusion, political and historic references, distortion, and parody. His first full-length play and still his best-known work, Tango (1964, tr=translated.), continues to be performed throughout Europe. Also his other works are performed in many countries of the world.
Early days. His father, Antoni Mrozek, was a postal carrier; his mother was Zofia, nee Kedzior. In 1945 Mrozek was admitted to Warsaw’s Nowodworski Gimnazjum which he finished in 1949. In the same year he started to study architecture but dropped out after three months, and then studied painting, but again abandoned the studies. In 1949 he was accepted as a cartoonist to the satirical weekly Szpilki. and joined the staff of Dziennik Polski. For a short time he studied also Oriental philosophy at the University of Cracow. In 1950 Mrozek joined PZPR (United Polish Workers' Party=Polish Communist Party), but left it in 1963.
Artistic career. Mrozek's satirical drawings started to appear regularly in the humor magazine Przekrój and in Szpilki, and in 1958 he began editing a weekly, Postepowiec. In 1959 Mrozek married the artist Maria Oremba; she died of cancer in 1969 in West Berlin. While working as a journalist and cartoonist, Mrożek began to write short stories, often satirical and macabre. His first collection, Słon (1957, tr., The Elephant) was an immediate success. In the late 1950s he abandoned journalism to write plays, the first of which, Policja (1958), was followed by eight short dramas. During 1963-1968 Mrożek lived in Italy. After he denounced Poland’s participation in the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia in Le Monde, he was immediately called home. However, he decided to stay in Paris (1968-89). Authorities in Poland responded by banning his plays and stories for some time, and his books were withdrawn from libraries. In the early 1970s, Mrozek traveled in the United States and South America. His own experiences in exile Mrozek dramatized in Emigranci (1974). Director and Oscar winner, Andrzej Wajda, made a theatre production of Emigranci in 1975 at the Teatr Stary in Kraków. In 1978 he became a French citizen. When Wojciech Jaruzelski proclaimed martial law in 1981 and arrested Solidarity leaders, Mrozek protested in Le Monde, and forbade television performances of his plays and publication of his writings in Polish papers. However, his works were still performed in Polish theaters, although authorities banned Ambasador (1982), which had its world premiere in Warsaw just before martial law was declared. With several other writers, such as Czeslaw Milosz and Leszek Kolakowski, Mrozek protested in 1983 against the dissolution of the Polish Writers' Association (ZLP). Mrozek married in 1987 the Mexican theatre director Orario Rosas. In 1989 the Mrozeks moved to Mexico, settling on a ranch La Epifania till 1997. There Mrozek composed the first part of his diary, Dziennik powrotu, which he later finished in Poland. In 1990, a festival dedicated to Mrozek was arranged in Cracow. The ancient city-hall tower in the middle of the main square was wrapped in Mrozek's trademark a large natty tie. In 1994 Noir sur Blanc started to publish his works in Polish. Mrozek moved with Orario Rosas to Cracow in 1997. His 70 years birthday was widely celebrated in Cracow and Borzecin. From the late 1990s, his cartoons and columns have appeared in the largest daily newspaper, Gazeta Wyborcza. Mrożek is also the author of a collection of drawings 'Poland in Pictures' (1957) and 'Through the glasses of Sławomir Mrożek' (1968). He also wrote the scripts for the films: Wyspa róż (1975) Amor (1978) Powrót (1994). In 2002 he suffered from a stroke and lost temporarily the ability to speak and write. After a three year therapy, in 2006, Mrożek released his autobiography called "Baltazar".
Honors and awards. 1953 Silver Cross of Merit, 1954 Julian Brun Award, 1957 Best of the Year Award (for The Elephant), 1962 Koscielski Foundation in Switzerland award, 1964 Xavier Fornaret “Prix de l’Humour Noir” (for The Elephant), 1964 Alfred Jurzykowski Foundation in NY Award , 1970 Spanish critics award (for Vatzlav performed in Theater am Neumarkt, Zurich), Austrian State Award for European Literature, 1985 Alfred Jurzykowski Foundation in NY Award, 1988 Directs The Contract at the Municipal Theater in Stockholm, 1993 wins the competition for the best play by a French playwright for Milosc na Krymie (Love in the Crimean), and received Crédit Industriel et Commercial Paris Théâtre award for staging the play in the Théâtre de la Colline in Paris, 1997 Commander’s Cross with Star of Polonia Restituta Order , 2003, the highest French national distinction, Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur, 2004 Krakowska Ksiazka Miesiaca Award for Varia. Jak zostałem filmowcem.
Sources
Wikipedia (in Polish, list of works)
Several informations from Mrozek's biography by Petri Liukkonen, Chief Librarian Kuusankoski Library Finland, with the permission of the author. See the original at:
Liukkonen(with an extensive list of selected works)
Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Columbia Encyclopedia
Transcending the Absurd,Book by Halina Stephan
English translations of some of his works:
Constance J. Ostrowski
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