Józef Wittlin’s letters to Stefania Kossowska (edited by Paweł Kądziela)

Abstract

A significant part of diverse epistolary works by Józef Wittlin have been published over the last several years. We are familiar with the poet’s letters to Roman Brandstaetter, Witold Gombrowicz, Wacław Iwaniuk, Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz, Zofia Starowieyska-Morstinowa, Juliusz Sakowski, Tymon Terlecki, Aleksander Wat, and with 82 letters to different recipients (e.g. Stefan Żeromski, Julian Tuwim, Ludwik H. Morstin, Stanisław Baliński), which were gathered by Tadeusz Januszewski in one volume. In 2014, a large volume Listy do redaktorów “Wiadomości” containing 23 Wittlin’s letters to Stefania Kossowska, the last editor of the weekly magazine, from the years 1969–1975 and edited by Janusz Olejniczak was published. Their manuscripts can be found in the archives of “Wiadomości”, which were donated by Kossowska to Nicolaus Copernicus University. Wittlin and Kossowska’s friendship lasted much longer and their letters prove that. During my stay in London in March 1987 Stefania Kossowska gave me an envelope with letters and postcards written by Wittlin in the years 1963–1974 and addressed to her. Considering the publication of other Wittlin’s letters to Kossowska, the edition of letters stored in my archives seems to be justified. The letters allow us to specify many facts related to the writer’s life. In Wittlin’s writing letters are something more important than just a commentary to his poetic, prose, essayistic, and translation works. They serve as a compliment to his literary activity as they were often created instead of essays, on the margins of the author’s experiences, thoughts or inspirational books he read. Successively announced bigger or smaller parts of letters by the author of Sól ziemi can be an indication of the future reading of the whole edition of letters put into chronological order.