Remembering Wiesław Myśliwski
We are deeply saddened by the loss of Wiesław Myśliwski. A beloved Polish novelist, essayist, and playwright, Myśliwski is the only writer to have twice received the Nike Prize, Poland’s most prestigious literary award: in 1997 for his novel Horizon and again in 2007 for A Treatise on Shelling Beans. Read a eulogy by Jeremi Szaniawski, Associate Professor of Polish Language and Culture at UMass Amherst, below:
“Everybody dies, as it turns out, but some far less than others. The greatest Polish writer of the late Communist and post-Communist era, Wiesław Myśliwski (1932-2026), will henceforth live on through his astounding and beautiful literary legacy and the hearts and souls of those who were graced by it.
He is survived by Wacława, his most important collaborator, muse, and friend. They met as teenagers, and were married for over 70 years; and his son Grzegorz, whose birth inspired Myśliwski to write his first novel, Nagi Sad (The Naked Orchard), 1967. This short novel about the boundlessness and mystery of hope and fatherly love was hailed as a great debut by poet Julian Przyboś. Myśliwski would go on to receive many prestigious awards and to write what is unquestionably the most important Polish book of the post-communist era, the vastly autobiographic Widnokrąg (Horizon), 1996.
This is the moment to read Myśliwski for the first time, or to rediscover his novels, essays, and plays, which redefined autofiction and magical realism, as well as cast a gaze that saw the painful beauty of a troubled 20th century, with a particular focus on the lives and tribulations of Polish villagers, social class, and memory.
Myśliwski’s writing, as has been noted repeatedly, has a graceful, musical quality. But he was also an avid cinephile: his novels are replete with references to films, recreating in a unique way the cinematic image and transposing its phenomenology to the written word, in a form of reverse adaptation of sorts. As will surprise none of his readers, the great writer’s favorite filmmakers were Ingmar Bergman, Federico Fellini, Michelangelo Antonioni, Luis Buñuel, and Luchino Visconti. He weaved into the imaginary of his novels (as well as their masterful structure) references to famous scenes from their films.
Thanks to the work of Ursula Phillips and particularly Bill Johnston, several of Myśliwski’s novels are available in excellent English translation:
- The Palace (Pałac, 1970; English translation by Ursula Phillips, 1991
- Stone Upon Stone (Kamień na kamieniu, 1984; English translation by Bill Johnston, 2011
- A Treatise on Shelling Beans (Traktat o łuskaniu fasoli, 2006; English translation by Bill Johnston, 2013
- Needle’s Eye (Ucho Igielne, 2018; English translation by Bill Johnston, 2025).
His final collection of essays and interviews is entitled W środku jesteśmy baśnią. Mowy i rozmowy (We Are a Fairy Tale Within: Speeches and Conversations), 2022, where the imaginary and the so-called real world are interwoven and endlessly nurture one another.
Although they were always filled with a vibrant love of live, all of Myśliwski’s works were also meditations on memory and mortality.
They teach us to embrace life and literature all the more, and with gratitude.”
Photo credit: Włodzimierz Wasyluk / Forum