Warsaw Voice - Celebrating a Poet's Virtues

Celebrating a Poet's Virtues
15 December 1996

On December 10, the one-hundredth anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death, Wisława Szymborska accepted the Nobel prize for literature in Stockholm, despite appearing to be in bad health.

On December 9, she failed to appear at the Akademibokhandeln (academic bookstore), where readers awaited a book signing. She didn't show up for a poetry reading, nor for a reception for this year's prize winners. On the evening of the 9th, she said she was exhausted and begged for an evening off. Piotr Rodziewicz, an employee of the bookstore, could not hide his disappointment. "Last year, Seamus Heaney signed his books despite a high fever," he said. Szymborska is the first winner of the literature prize to call off a meeting with readers. Her admirers worried whether she'd even be able to accept her prize. Fortunately, the ceremony went off without a hitch.

At the beginning of the ceremony, Brigitta Trotzig, a leading Swedish writer, presented Szymborska's work and the academy's reasons for awarding her the prize. Karl Gustaf, the King of Sweden, then presented the medal and diploma to Szymborska. (The actual check for the prize money is presented in private.)

After the ceremony, 1,250 guests gathered in Stockholm City Hall's Blue Room. The king and Szymborska spoke in French, their only common language.

The reception's menu was secret until the last minute. The only thing that was known was that ice cream flambee would be served at the end of the banquet.

Szymborska will remain in Sweden until December 15. Her schedule there is filled with meetings with readers, writers and diplomats. Other activities, however, have been kept to a minimum. Szymborska decided not to participate in the traditional St. Lucia crowning ceremony on December 13, as well as many other suggested receptions.

Stories by Małgorzata Bąkowska

PUBLISHING
Few and Far Between

When Wisława Szymborska won the Nobel Prize for Literature on Oct. 3, it turned out that her poetry was hard to find in Polish bookstores. It was also absent from the Frankfurt Book Fair on the same day. The following day, Ars Polona, which manages Polish stands at the fair, displayed seven collections of Szymborska's poems.

Up to now, her works have been released by four publishers: Czytelnik, Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy (PIW), Wydawnictwo Literackie and Poznań's A-5. Print runs have ranged from 2,000 to 5,000. However, Szymborska's most recent collection, Koniec i początek (The End and the Beginning), which came out in 1993, has sold 18,000 copies. The poet has only published 15 collections since 1945, and has been even less active in recent years.

On Oct. 3, Koniec i początek was available in just two Warsaw bookstores, selling out immediately. Over the next several weeks, Polish publishers began to take interest in Szymborska and issued her works with a note, "1996 Nobel Prize." They can now be found in almost all bookstores, along with biographies of the author. However, Czytelnik and PIW have not printed any new editions as yet.

"We last released Szymborska's works in 1982," says Piotr Dobrodziej from PIW's sales department. "We'd like to print more, but it's difficult to get the author's permission." A Czytelnik employee working in the sales department, and refusing to give her name, admitted that her company had also not received such permission.

Marek Bukawski, Szymborska's lawyer, says that the poet has not agreed to reprint her earlier works because she doesn't want to see the Polish market flooded with her books.

Dobrodziej suggests that some books currently available could be illegal. However, Henryka Sobkowicz of the Dom Książki distributing company disagrees: "We distribute books from well-known publishers, including A-5, Znak, Rebis, Kram and Wydawnictwo Literackie." Dobrodziej responds that books in stores can be easily monitored, but many street vendors may be selling illegal copies for less.

Szymborska's poetry has enjoyed new popularity since she received the prize. "We have a few copies of the Widok z ziarenkiem piasku (A View with a Grain of Sand) from A-5 left," says an attendant who preferred to remain anonymous at the Polska Książka bookstore in Mokotów. "A short while ago, we had the Koniec i początek, but it sold out immediately," she says.

The book The Sisyphus of Poetry in the Light of Modern Times, a Work on Wisława Szymborska, published by Kram, was also highly successful. The author, Aneta Wiatr, says that the initial print run of 10,000 soon had to be increased to 15,000 copies.

Until recently, the Dom Książki bookstore on Broniewskiego Street had three different collections of Szymborska's poetry, as well as two biographies. "Today, I am left with just one copy of Koniec i początek," says Lech Nieduziak, the manager. "Several people buy Szymborska's books every day, and almost everyone has been inquiring about them," he says.

AN IMPRESSIVE COLLECTION

1954 Literary Prize of the city of Cracow
1963 2nd-degree Award of the Minister of Culture and Art
1991 Goethe Prize, awarded every three years by Frankfurt town authorities
1995 Johann Herder Prize, awarded by the University of Vienna
1995 Degree of doctor of the humanities honoris causa from the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań
1996 The Polish PEN Club Award in poetry
1996 The Nobel Prize in Literature from the Swedish Academy

PEERS VALUE POET'S TALENT

Stanisław Barańczak, poet and professor of Polish literature at Harvard University (Barańczak and Clare Cavanagh translated View With a Sand Grain, a collection of Szymborska's poetry in 1995 that won the Book of the Year award from American literature publishers and distributors):

There's no such masterful poetry in the world today, not as far as content and the literary techniques are concerned, and not in terms of philosophy. Szymborska's poetry is well received in the States. After our translation was published, I got many letters from American readers. This poetry opens horizons and helps us to understand the human condition. People write to say that they can find something for themselves in it. Although she's based in a Polish historical and geographical reality, her poetry is universal.

Czesław Miłosz, poet, translator, lecturer at the University of California in Berkeley, Nobel Prize winner in 1980:

Americans understand her poetry very well. It reads well in English translation. I've read her poems at Berkeley. Everybody was enthusiastic. It's witty, ironic poetry, and such characteristics are translatable. It's the opposite of "confession" poetry. Szymborska keeps a certain distance and is highly discreet. She doesn't tell you about her life. It's interesting that her poetry is such a success in view of the fashion for subjective poetry-in which readers are tortured with one's experiences.

Tadeusz Drewnowski, writer, literary theorist:

The principal theme in Szymborska's poetry is the defense of singularity and individuality among "great numbers" and the assumption that this singularity and individuality are unique: "We are as different as two drops of pure water." While defending the "I", she isn't eager to make personal effusions. She's more interested in the "we" and the human condition. Declaring herself in favor of preserving individuality, Szymborska is not willing at the same time to forget about the average, which is frequently a model for her. She isn't a series writer. Every poem is one unto itself, also in terms of the poetics, style, language. That's what makes this not very prolific poetry so rich. It's also why her poems are frequently known by heart, unlike most contemporary poetry.

Karl Dedecius, German translator of Szymborska's poetry:

I value highly the uniqueness of her poetry, which is very intellectual, often much more so than poetry written by men. Szymborska professes a very ironic attitude toward the world around her, an approach that's impossible to imitate. She simply cannot be copied, unlike Miłosz and Różewicz, who have many followers. After the Goethe and Herder awards, she couldn't get anything less than the Nobel.

POLITICIANS PAY TRIBUTE

Polish politicians sent in letters to congratulate Wisława Szymborska on her being awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Prime Minister Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz stressed the poet's contribution to global culture and to Poland's promotion worldwide. "I congratulate you on this honor and distinction, which shows that Polish poets are leaders in the world's literary avant-garde," Cimoszewicz wrote.

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Grzegorz Kołodko said he had been "truly moved" by the Academy's decision. "I'm happy that your excellent art has met with recognition for its greatness in the eyes of the entire world," he wrote in a letter. Kołodko decided to take advantage of his powers as minister of finance to request that the Nobel Prize money being granted to Szymborska be exempt from tax.

Senate Speaker Adam Struzik wrote that Szymborska's winning the Nobel Prize is a distinction that cannot be overestimated. "You are a prize in your own right, to Polish literature and to us, your readers," Struzik said.

Minister of Culture and Arts Zdzisław Podkański called the distinction "a great day for Polish culture." In his congratulations to Szymborska, he wrote that the award "is recognition of the poet's personal talent, intellect and unrivaled mastery."

Former President Lech Wałęsa wrote he is "extremely glad" that for the second time in the last two decades, Polish poetry has been honored with such distinction. "Literature is said to mete out justice to the visible world. Our country can thus be considered to be the homeland of righteous people; and it has been recognized as such," Wałęsa said.

ACCEPTANCE SPEECH
The Soul of Wit
Szymborska's lecture in Stockholm was like her poetry: short, sweet, and to the point.

"Today's poet is skeptical and even-or mostly, perhaps-suspicious of himself. He is hard pressed to call himself a poet in public, as if he were a little ashamed. But in our noisy age it is much easier to admit to one's faults, as long as they are spectacular, than to one's virtues, because they are more deeply concealed and one simply doesn't fully believe that one has them," said Wisława Szymborska, this year's winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, in her acceptance speech in Stockholm. The speech, before the Swedish Academy, was the shortest in Nobel Prize history.

Before flying to Stockholm for the ceremonies, Szymborska stopped for a short press conference at the airport, telling journalists that she isn't good at writing speeches.

"It worries me a little," she said. "I tend to speak in abbreviated terms and to use aphorisms. I wrote my lecture on small scraps of paper and I hoped there would be more of it, but all it amounted to were six-and-a-half pages."

Academy Secretary Sture Allen said the speech was the longest poem that he had ever read.

Szymborska also said she would give half of the prize money to charity. The other half she will use to buy gifts for friends and to set up two cultural foundations.

Szymborska flew to Stockholm accompanied by 11 people whom she had invited. Among them were Miki Larson, cultural attache of the Swedish Embassy in Poland; Teresa Walas, a literary critic, deputy president of the Cracow branch of the Polish Writers' Association and close friend; and Karl Dedecius, the German translator who introduced Szymborska's poetry to Europe.

She took part in another press conference at the airport in Stockholm, then checked in at the Stockholm Grand Hotel, where she met this year's other Nobel laureates for the first time.

On the following day, dressed in a simple black dress with a light collar, Szymborska gave her talk. By tradition, the speech is supposed to reflect the laureate's artistic or scientific credo. Szymborska said the inner impulse that drives her to create poetry is contained in the words "I don't know."

"These are small words, but they have wings," she said. "They open our lives to areas in which our barely perceptible earth is suspended."

In closing, Szymborska said she does not agree with the Ecclesiastics saying that "there is nothing new under the sun." Each day, she said, is different from the next because of the multitude of singular and unique human, animal and plant beings around us. They all form that "amazing world" that poetry has been called upon to describe. "It appears that poets will always have a lot to do," she concluded.