“Many people like marshmallows, I prefer porcini mushrooms.” Sometimes obscene, sometimes lyrical

In April, we celebrate the 120th anniversary of the birth of Jan Sztaudynger – poet, epigram writer, satirist, translator of German literature and editor of magazines devoted to puppetry. “Although Jan Sztaudynger’s main passion (among other main ones) was puppets, i.e. puppet theater, he was not only an honest lyricist, a sharp-eyed satirist and mocker, but also a great piece of a real man of the theater. Theater as he saw it Wyspiański – huge theater. It was another unfulfilled passion of Jan Sztaudynger. One could only briefly say:

So much life/unusable.’

– the poet and doctor Jan Kolankowski wrote about him in “Rocznik Jelenia Górski” from 1977, now published by “Political Teologia”. vol. 15, 1977, pp. 61-75. And he came back with this epigram a few years ago during the junior high school exam. The students had to answer questions referring to one of his works. Some people: “I thought it wasn’t printed”, “that the text was cut off” – the surprise of those unfamiliar with Sztaudynger’s work was great, because “Crumpled Complaint” consists of only three words:

Life of me/Me!

Puppetry, epigrams, translations and mushrooms. “Many people like wild boars, I prefer real boars”

Born on April 28, 1904 in Kraków, he died there in 1970, but throughout his youth he was associated with Małopolska. Then he worked as a teacher (and then a university lecturer) in Dębica, Bydgoszcz and Poznań – he organized puppet theaters in the high schools where he taught. After the outbreak of the war, he was arrested by the Germans, sent to a transit camp, and then resettled to the village of Malice in the Sandomierz district. Then he taught at a secret junior high school in Opatów.

After spending some time in Łódź, he moved to Szklarska Poręba in 1947. There he had a house – or rather a cottage without any comforts, located in a remote area. As Kolankowski recalls, this place had its own charm. Unfortunately, it was taken away from Sztaudynger by the state because the people’s authorities did not tolerate a citizen having two apartments. Therefore, he and his family had to return to Łódź in 1950 (at the end of his life he moved to Zakopane).

“Łódź is the city where Sztaudynger went with his family after the war. Here his great dream of running a magazine about puppet art – his great passion – came true” – on the Polish Radio website. “Here he also experienced the greatest failure in his life, when in the mid-1950s the magazine was taken away from him. “Teatr Lalek” was a periodical whose value, apart from the enormous authority in the field of puppetry of the editor-in-chief in the person of Jan Sztaudynger, was determined by the involvement of outstanding artists of that time, headed by with Jerzy Nowosielski. The misfortune of losing his position, caused by a severe stomach disease that accompanied him for the last 16 years of his life, also had its advantages. After a long break from literature caused by numerous editorial duties, Sztaudynger was able to return to it again,” he says. attention of the author of the text collecting broadcasts about the poet.

– The first publication in our country on the theory of puppetry – “Marionetki”, flagship magazines – “Bal u Lal”, “Teatr Lalek”, still published today, Society of Friends of the Puppet Theater, efforts for Poland to join the International Puppeteer’s Association UNIMA, crowned with success and the first honorary membership in this organization – on the one hand, extensive knowledge, and – as an added value – proposing his own stage works and ideas for home puppet theater, the creative power with which he influenced not only the youngest generations – in turn, his contributions to puppetry Dariusz Staniszewski from the collection and processing department of the Provincial Public Library three years ago, when the exhibition “It was worth disturbing the silence. Jan Sztaudynger and his passions” was opened in Łódź.

He also mentioned that Sztaudynger was a great translator. He studied Polish and German studies at the Jagiellonian University, and in 1927 he obtained a doctorate in philosophy for his work “Garczyński’s attitude to religion and Goethe’s influence on Garczyński”. Then he translated, among others: works of German poets and playwrights at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries – Goethe and von Kleist. He also mentioned that he was an avid collector of postage stamps, pebbles, shells, roots and epigrams, diaries, editions of Don Quixote, and he also loved picking mushrooms.

“Mr. Jan was as happy as a child about one particularly (supposedly) large bolete. As usual, I came back empty-handed, but not completely. I remember the ad hoc phrase he said at that time: ‘Many people like wild boletes, I prefer porcini mushrooms.'” The author did not However, he was completely satisfied with himself, because he said in justification: You know (he considered me a bit like a colleague in writing), it happens that way. It doesn’t always happen to be typesetting (especially books) and then you have to leave it to the wind – and he added – like a feather” – Kolankowski recalled the joint mushroom picking.

They published five thousand “Piórki” by Jan Sztaudynger and sold 65,000

At one time, Sztaudynger was an extremely popular author of epigrams, several of his books – despite the not necessarily favorable opinions of reviewers – had reprints, and his meetings with authors enjoyed great interest. “Piórka” from 1954 had an initial circulation of five thousand copies. 65,000 were sold in three years! When he was not included in a satire anthology in the 1950s, he first wanted to write a protest and leave the Writers’ Union, but after a while he laughed and said: “I will deal with them with an epigram.” Then the text was created:

I am not in the anthology one hundred and thirty-three/ Oh, what bad luck it is for her and not for me!

– The concise epigram was a response to Gomułka’s endless, empty speeches. The nature of the epigram meant that there was usually a punch line already in the second line – the poet’s daughter, Anna Sztaudynger-Kaliszewicz, pointed out in a Polish Radio broadcast. She also emphasized that the cheerful nature of these meetings was probably important.

He must have been a man of great brilliance and sense of humor. Kolankowski also mentions:

Jan Sztaudynger, as can be judged from the epigram: “Before I cheat on her, I will consult her”, was an exemplary husband, although, like no mushroom in a bush, he did not miss any of the prettiest faces. He did not hide it from me. not at all. “Oh, what a pretty beast,” he enthused loudly, because he loved beauty in every form and in every manifestation.

Salwatorski Cemetery at Washington in Krakow, grave of Jan Sztaudynger Artur Barbarowski / Artur BARBAROWSKI/East News

Usually his epigrams were humorous, often erotic, but sometimes they were more lyrical. One of the last ones reads:

I have lived with you, loved and suffered with you, / Now live, love, suffer for yourselves.

Today, politicians sometimes quote his “And when you shear sheep, tell them stories.” – The ease of writing epigrams and the ability to immediately respond in rhyme was a joy for the father, but also a nuisance – for his daughter. – In his memoirs, he wrote that perverse or frivolous epigrams came to his mind in quite serious situations, when the only thing that mattered was reflection or seriousness, and he choked, holding back laughter – she explained.