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Stefan Napierski

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Stefan Napierski
BornStefan Marek Eiger
15 March 1899
Warszawa
Died2 April 1940
Palmiry
OccupationPoet, translator, essayist, publisher
SpouseIrena Tuwim (in 1922-1935)
Signature

Stefan Napierski, actually Stefan Marek Eiger (born 15 March 1899 in Warsaw, died 2 April 1940 in Palmiry) was a Polish poet of Jewish origin, translator and essayist, in the years 1938–1939 publisher of the bimonthly Ateneum [pl].

Life[edit]

Stefan Napierski was born to Bolesław Eiger, a wealthy Jewish entrepreneur and Jadwiga Diana Eiger née Silberstein, daughter of Markus Silberstein.[1] He had an older sister, Maria Eiger-Kamińska (1893-1983), communist activist, deputy member of central committee of Communist Party of Poland (1930–1932), and two younger brothers: Kazimierz and Zdzisław. As a young man, Napierski converted to Roman Catholicism and took a Polish-sounding nom-de-plume. Despite being gay (the fact was an open secret of literary circles), he was married to Irena Tuwim in the years 1922–1935.[2]

Napierski was mostly known as a translator and literary critic, and his self-published works were not as well regarded then.[2] He was associated with literary circles such as Skamander group, despite not strictly belonging to them.[2] In the years 1938–1939 he was a publisher and editor-in-chief of the bimonthly Ateneum.[3] Thanks to Napierski's intercession, Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz was given the position of the secretary of the Marshal of the Sejm.[2]

Following the invasion of Poland, Napierski was arrested by the Germans. Taken from Pawiak prison,[4] he was shot in the Palmiry massacre along a group of significant representatives of the Polish intelligentsia living in Warsaw.

Selected works[edit]

  • List do przyjaciela (Letter to a Friend) (1928)[5]
  • Pusta ulica (Empty Street) (1931)
  • Od Baudelaire'a do nadrealistów (From Baudelaire to Surrealists) (1933)[6]
  • Rozmowa z cieniem (Talk with a Shadow)(1933)[7]
  • Elegie (Elegias) (1937)
  • Próby (Trials) (1937)[8]
  • translations: 75 poematów, Walt Whitman (75 poems of Walt Whitman); collections Liryka niemiecka i Poeci niemieccy (German Lyrics and German Poets); translations of works by Comte de Lautréamont and Max Jacob; Na Zachodzie bez zmian (All Quiet on the Western Front) (1930)

References[edit]

  1. ^ Anna Augustyniak Irena Tuwim. Nie umarłam z miłości. Biografia, wyd. trzecia strona, Warszawa 2016, s. 79, 80.
  2. ^ a b c d Kaliściak, Tomasz (2011). Katastrofy odmieńców. Katowice: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego. pp. 181–228. OCLC 775503633.ISBN 9788322619944
  3. ^ Gazda, Grzegorz (2008). Dwudziestolecie międzywojenne: słownik literatury polskiej. Gdańskie Wydawnictwo Oświatowe, Wydawnictwo Słowo/Obraz Terytoria. ISBN 978-83-7420-110-0.
  4. ^ Władysław Bartoszewski, Warszawski pierścień śmierci 1939–1944, Warszawa 1970, s. 69, 77.
  5. ^ Stefan Napierski. "List do przyjaciela". polona.pl. Retrieved 2020-02-10.
  6. ^ Stefan Napierski. "Od Baudelaire'a do nadrealistów. Przekłady i szkice z nowoczesnej literatury francuskiej /". polona.pl. Retrieved 2020-02-10.
  7. ^ Stefan Napierski. "Rozmowy z cieniem. Powieść". polona.pl. Retrieved 2020-02-10.
  8. ^ Stefan Napierski. "Próby". polona.pl. Retrieved 2020-02-10.

External links[edit]