Refuge: Remembering Zbigniew Majchrowski
Abstract
21st December 2023 saw the passing of Zbigniew Majchrowski, a literary scholar, theatre scholar, and cultural critic. This essay recalls the two most important authors in his scholarly career: Adam Mickiewicz and Tadeusz Różewicz. Majchrowski’s book diptych on Mickiewicz—Cela Konrada (Konrad’s Cell) and Krypta Gustawa (Gustaw’s Crypt)—gives an insight into the history of Polish theatre from the beginning of the 20th century to the present day. The two books speak of historical changes and the current condition of the Poles’ collective soul: the various stagings of Mickiewicz’s Forefathers’ Eve (Polish Dziady) appear in Majchrowski’s writings as a meta-social commentary, perhaps the most important and momentous in the history of Polish performing arts. Różewicz, in turn, found in Majchrowski a critic who read his works thoroughly, insightfully, and with uncommon subtlety; especially memorable in this context are the interpretations of Różewicz’s dramas On All Fours (Na czworakach) and Mariage Blanc (Białe małżeństwo). The essay concludes with the story of Różewicz’s trip to Shelley’s grave in Rome; in the spirit of Majchrowski, the author interprets this event as a kind of an unwritten poem.
Keywords:
Zbigniew Majchrowski, Adam Mickiewicz, „Forefathers’ Eve”, Tadeusz Różewicz, theatre history, contemporary theatreReferences
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Authors
Leszek KolankiewiczWarsaw University Poland
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8473-9341
Leszek Kolankiewicz – culture expert, anthropologist of spectacles; professor at the Institute of Polish Culture, University of Warsaw. He conducts research into cultural spectacles, especially rituals of possessive cults, social performances and theatrical performances, especially avant-garde and neo-avant-garde ones. In his cultural studies he combines the methods of performance anthropology, performance studies and theatre science.
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