Witkacy’s two unknown letters to Kazimierz Twardowski

Abstract

Letters of Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz to Kazimierz Twardowski, professor of philosophy were published in 1988 in a monograph by Ryszard Jadczak, and later in 2013 – in a new monograph by the author of materials presented herein in volume 17 of Witkiewicz’s Dzieła zebrane. The letter from December 1936 concluded the correspondence between Witkiewicz and Twardowski. While working on Witkacy’s letters to different addressees, I have discovered that two of the letters, which had been previously identified as addressed to professor Kazimierz Ajdukiewicz, were in fact letters to Twardowski from 1937! (the letters were lost, but their photocopies survived).

            Determining that professor Twardowski is the addressee of the letters turned out to be extremely difficult, as no envelopes with addresses have survived, and the letters contain salutations “Dear Professor”- which could mean many people. In addition, the content of the letters (concerning mostly the publishing of Witkacy’s articles) did not make it easier to identify the addressee properly, as both Twardowski and Ajdukiewicz were editors of philosophical journals. What is more, Ajdukiewicz was Twardowski’s student and son-in-law, and after World War II he settled in Poznań (the letters were from Poznań), which made unambiguous identification complicated. 

            What was helpful for the editor were Witkiewicz’s letters written after philosophical congress in Cracow in September 1936, and the letter by from December 1936. Thanks to a thorough analysis of Witkiewicz’s correspondence, it was possible to determine that what was believed to be letters to Ajdukiewicz was in fact letters to Twardowski.