Beta version
Write to us 
21 November 2009

Main page

Polish Culture in the World Polish Cultural Institutes
important links Ministry of Culture and National Heritage - Ministerstwo Kultury i Dziedzictwa Narodowego Ministry of Foreign Affairs - Ministerstwo Spraw Zagranicznych

Publisher:
Adam Mickiewicz Institute
ul. Mokotowska 25
00-560 Warsaw
tel. (+48 22) 44 76 100
fax (+48 22) 44 76 152
www.iam.pl 
about us  redakcja@culture.pl  order newsletter 
Jerzy Pilch
languages: Polish  / English 
 

A novelist and newspaper columnist, born in Wisła in 1952.

He abandoned academic career choosing the life of a working writer, and won a dedicated readership during the Martial Law period with the unusually amusing satirical texts that he read aloud at meetings of the Cracow "Na Głos" group. He soon became one of the most popular columnists in "Tygodnik Powszechny", since 1999 in "Polityka", where his texts have a style all their own.

Pilch's first collection of stories - full of grotesque portraits of people and events known to the initiated - seemed like a continuation of his newspaper columns. However, his next collection of prose pieces revealed a narrative talent and skill at building anecdotes that recalled Hrabal or Kundera. Linguistically attractive and unusually funny, Pilch's stories are nevertheless underpinned with nostalgia: their protagonists are searching in vain for the flavor of their own youth and of the friends and women who have receded into the past. This existential pain can be assuaged only by clothing recollection in an anecdotal literary form, which Pilch accomplishes to perfection as he invites his readers to enjoy his ironical-philosophical tales.

Source: www.polska2000.pl, Copyright: Stowarzyszenie Willa Decjusza

For his book "By the powerful angel" Jerzy Pilch received the NIKE'2001 award - the most eminent Polish literary prize (previously, he has been nominated three times already). The book "Miasto utrapienia" ("City of woes") has been nominated for the 2005 Nike Award.

Selected Bibliography
  • "Wyznania twórcy pokątnej literatury erotycznej (Confessions of a Hole-and-Corner Pureyor of Erotic Tales)". London: Puls, 1988.
  • "Spis cudzolożnic. Proza podróżna (The List of Adulteresses: Travel Writing)". London: Puls, 1993.
  • "Rozpacz z powodu utraty furmanki (Despair at the Loss of a Horse Cart)". Cracow: Znak, 1994.
  • "Inne rozkosze (Other Delights)". Poznan: a5, 1995.
  • "Monolog z lisiej jamy (Monologue from the Fox's Den)". Cracow: Universitas, 1996.
  • "Tezy o głupocie, piciu i umieraniu (Theses on Stupidity, Drinking and Dying)". London: Puls, 1997.
  • "Tysiąc spokojnych miast (A Thousand Peaceful Cities)". London: Puls, 1997.
  • "Bezpowrotnie utracona leworecznosc (The Irreverible Loss of Left-Handedness)". Cracow: WL, 1998.
  • "Pod Mocnym Aniolem (By the powerful angel)", Cracow: WL, 2000.
  • "Opowieści wigilijne (Christmas Tales)" (with Olga Tokarczuk and Andrzej Stasiuk). Czarna Ruta, 2000.
  • "Upadek człowieka pod Dworcem Centralnym (The Fall of a Man at the Foot of Central Station)" 2002 "(more...)"
Screen Adaptations: Selected translations
  • English: "His current Woman" (from "Other pleasures"), Hydra Books, 2002.
  • German: "Andere Lüste (Other pleasures)". Berlin: Volk und Welt, 2000; "Zum starken Engel (By the powerful angel)", München: Luchterhand Literaturverlag, 2002.

back to top
Browsing history




VIDEO COVERAGE  PHOTO COVERAGE  PAINTING  GRAPHIC ART  DRAWING  PHOTOGRAPHY  PORTRAITS 
RECENTLY ADDED
Kwadrofonik at Crossculture Festival
The European Film Academy (EFA) has announced its choice of international EFA Ambassadors. Among the selected distinguished personalities from the world of European film there is Maciej Stuhr. The Polish actor will represent EFA and the European Film Awards at various prestigious events.
The Berlin Maxim Gorki Theatre will show Heinrich von Kleist's "Amphitryon", directed by Jan Bosse (November 19, 2009) and Fritz Kater's "Haeven", directed by Armin Petras (November 21, 2009) at Stary Teatr in Cracow. The shows are part of the collaboration between the two theatres, called "Wanderlust".
18th History Book Fairs will take place on November 26 - Novemer 29, 2009, in Warsaw. The inauguratory press conference "History Book Fairs - the new beginning" starts on November 23, 2009 at 12:00 p.m. in Kubicki Arcades at the Royal Castle.
40 short documentary films from 11 countries have been qualified for competition in the 13th International Film Festival "Off Cinema". The Festival starts on November 18, 2009, in Poznań.
The former headquarters of the Polish United Workers' Party's Central Comitee, a monumetal building located in downtown Warsaw, near the de Gaulle traffic circle, was on November 16, 2009, inscribed on the list of registered monuments of the Masovian Voivodeship.
On November 13, 2009, at the Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław, the Minister of Culture and National Heritage, Bohdan Zdrojewski, signed an agreement, according to which the Ministry shall co-fund the construction of the Centre of Applied Arts and Innovation Centre at the Academy of Fine Arts.
© Copyright by Instytut Adama Mickiewicza. All rights reserved - unless stated otherwise - including the rights of authors and the publisher. No further distribution of articles or other materials contained on the www.culture.pl website is permitted without the publisher's consent.
www.culture.pl ISSN 1734-0624 Nr 2882 | www.iam.pl
implementation: www.ornak.pl | design: Marek Zalejski / Studio Q
SITE MAP