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21 November 2009

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Hanna Krall
languages: Polish  / English  / French  / German 
 

Born in Warsaw in 1937 and educated as a journalist, she has worked as a reporter for "Polityka" and specializes in describing the everyday lives and situations of apparently ordinary people.

Her best-known book, "Shielding the Flame", came out in 1977. It is an interview with Marek Edelman, a physician and the last living leader of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. She applies the technique of a double time-frame, enriched by the interweaving of fictitious and authentic narratives. She used the same technique in two novels, the semi-autobiographical "The Subtenant" (1982) and "Windows" (1985). "Shielding the Flame" introduced Jewish subjects to her writing; this continued in "The Subtenant" and in two reportages, "Hypnosis" and "Dancing at Someone Else's Wedding", which were published as books after first appearing in "Gazeta Wyborcza". The main theme is the intertwining of human fates; the stories mostly concern the search for identity and the complicated Polish-Jewish-German relations of the Second World War and the years immediately following the war, including the tragic events of 1968, often with a deeper background in the history of a given family or locality. Hanna Krall uses the techniques of reportage in her fictional or fictionalized writing: ellipsis, the exposition of details that grow into motifs, and authorial remarks. It is characteristic of her to expose the construction and stitching of her own authorial craft, making it appear to be "raw," while emphasizing the interplay of truth and fiction.

Selected Bibliography:
  • "Na Wschód od Arbatu (East of the Arbat)", Warsaw: Iskry, 1972
  • "Zdążyć przed Panem Bogiem (Shielding the Flame)", Krakow: WL, 1977
  • "Szęść odcieni bieli (Six Shades of White)", Warsaw: Czytelnik, 1978
  • "Sublokatorka (The Subtenant)", Paris: Libella, 1985
  • "Okna, Trudności ze wstawaniem (The Window. Difficulties with Getting up)", Warsaw: Alfa, 1990
  • "Hipnoza (Hypnosis)", Warsaw: Alfa, 1989
  • "Co sie stało z naszą bajka (What happend to our Fairy-Tale)", Warsaw: Twój Styl, 1994
  • "Dowody na istnienie (Proofs of Existence)", Poznań: a5, 1996
  • "Tam już nie ma żadnej rzeki (There, There won't be Another River)", Krakow: a5, 1998
  • "To ty jesteś Daniel (So you are Daniel)", Krakow: a5, 2001 "(more...)"

Selected translations
  • English: "Shielding the Flame", New York, 1986; "The Subtenant", Evanston, Ill., 1987
  • French: "Prendre le bon Dieu de vitesse", Paris, 1983; "La sous-locataire", La Tour d'Aignes, 1994.
  • German: "Dem Herrgott zuvorkommen", Berlin: Volk und Welt, 1979; "Die Untermieterin", Frankfurt: Neue Kritik, 1986; "Existenzbewise. Sieben Erzählungen", Frankfurt: Neue Kritik, 1995; "Legoland", Frankfurt: Neue Kritik, 1990; "Tanz auf der fremden Hochzeit", Frankfurt: Neue Kritik, 1993; "Da ist kein Fluß mehr", Frankfurt a.M.: Neue Kritik 1999; "Ach, du bist Daniel", Frankfurt am Main: Neue Kritik Verlag, 2002
  • Dutch: "God voor zijn", Baaran, 1980; "De Onderhuurster", Amsterdam, 1987.
  • Finnish: "Kilpajouksu isä Jumalan kanssa", Helsinki: Kansankulttuuri Pori, 1983
  • Hebrew: "Le-hachdim et elochim", Jerusalem, 1981; "Dayeret mishne", Tel Aviv, 1989.
  • Hungarian: "Egy lépéssel az Úristen elött", Budapest, 1981.
  • Italian: "Arrivare prima de buon Dio", Roma, 1985.
  • Spanish: "Ganarle a Dios", Barcelona, 1982.
  • Swedish: "Hinna före Herren Gud", Stockholm, 1982.

Source: www.polska2000.pl; copyright: Stowarzyszenie Willa Decjusza.

Hanna Krall's book "Wyjątkowo długa linia" ("An exceptionally long line"), published in 2004, has been nominated for the 2005 Nike Award.

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