Gustaw Herling-Grudziński, born on 20 May 1919 in Kielce, died on 4 June 2000 in Naples. Writer, literary critic, essayist and journalist. In the years 1837-1939 he studied Polish philology at Warsaw University. He made his debut in 1935 writing reportages in "Kuźnia Młodych", he directed the literary section of the biweekly "Przemiany" and the weekly "Orka na Ugorze"; he published articles and reviews in the magzines "Ateneum", "Pion" and "Nasz Wyraz". Co-founder (1939) of the Warsaw underground group Polish People’s Independence Movement (Polish: Polska Ludowa Akcja Niepodległościowa, PLAN). He served as chief of staff and co-editor of "Biuletyn Polski” (Polish Bulletin).
In November 1939 he came to Lviv, in March 1940 he was arrested by the NKVD (The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs), accused of spying for German intelligence, sentenced to 5 years - June-November 1940 he was in prison in Witebsk, Leningrad and Vologda, then he was transferred to a labour camp in Jercevo near Arkhangelsk. He described this in his memoirs Inny świat (A World Apart) (published in English in 1951 in London, with a foreword by B. Russell, Polish edition in 1953 ibidem) - which is one of the greatest works of Polish prose after 1945, with the unwavering belief that moral values are absolute and can not be relativized because of inhuman conditions of life in another world. Released in 1942, he joined the Polish Army of gen. W. Anders, with whom he went to Italy. In May 1944, as a radio operator of the 3rd Carpathian Rifle Division, he took part in the battle of Monte Cassino, and was awarded the Virtuti Militari War Order.
After the war he moved to Rome, where in 1945-1946 he headed the literary section of "Biały Orzeł" (White Eagle); there he published his first collection of critical literary sketches Żywi i umarli (The Living and the Dead) (1945). Co-founder of the Literary Institute and the monthly magazine "Kulltura” (Culture). Author of the anthologyW oczach pisarzy. Wybór opowieści wojennych 1939–1945 (In the Eyes of the Writers. A Selection of War Stories 1939-1945) (Rome 1947). In 1948-1952 he collaborated with the weekly “Wiadomości” (News) in London. He then moved to Munich, where he headed the culture secton of the Polish Service of Radio Free Europe. In 1955 he settled in Naples, he married Lidia Croce, daughter of an Italian philosopher. For many years he was ignored in Italy because of his anti-communism. In the years 1957-1996 he once again cooperated with "Kultura" as its Italian correspondent and author (essays, short stories, political editorials, 1971-1995Dziennik pisany nocą (A Diary Written at Night)). He supported the democratic opposition in Poland (KOR, PPN) and samizdat publications. He was a member of the editorial staff of the Russian emigration magazine "Kontinient”.
From the beginning Herling-Grudzinski showed interest in social issues and politics, treating them as a tool for implementing values in a democratic system. In the 1990s he began his collaboration with „Tygodnik Powszechny”, „Rzeczpospolita” and „Więź”. Educated on the works of S.Żeromski, he sympathized with J. Piłsudski, he was not a member of any political party, but he declared his sympathy for the independence and anti-communist faction of the Polish Socialist Party (Polish: Polska Partia Socjalistyczna, PPS) (A. and L. Ciołkoszów). He received the following awards, i.a.: the Kościelski Foundation award (1967), the Pen Club award - the French Pen Club (1985) and the Polish Pen Club (1990) and the Order of the White Eagle (1998).
In his works Herling-Grudziński focused on the bases and indicators of humanity, the analysis of moral, religious, existential and social problems. Starting from Inny świat, he focused on: suffering, evil, passion, justice. The writer’s basic forms of literary expression were essays, journals and - a favourite - stories. His first short story was Książę niezłomny (Invincible Prince)(1957), dedicated to the anti-fascist emigration in Italy during World War II, but already Inny świat included such variants of the genre as: portrait, microstory, biographical story, memoir. Herling-Grudziński used the author's narration (in the first person), the narrator is present in the role of observer, commentator, reporter or participant of the events, which allows for specific autobiography and openness of the narrative. He recalls old legends, chronicles and stories (Italian, Neapolitan), and consequently a narrative reconstruction of the fate of the characters and events, the motif of the journey, allusions to other works, paraphrases, allusions, subtle literary hoaxes, became fixed elements of his stories. Individual stories - like in Inny Świat - show a world which is devastated, where humanity requires heroism and suffering. In Dziennik pisany nocą (part 1-6, Paris 1973-1998), which is one of the finest examples of Polish literary diaries, the basic theme is the relationship between politics and morality. In his essays and reviews Herling-Grudziński concentrated on national literature, including the works of T. Borowski Z. Herbert, J. Iwaszkiewicz, Z. Nałkowska, A. Rudnicki (the collectionWyjście z milczenia (Abandoning Silence)1993). Convinced that the fate of Central and Eastern Europe depend on the situation in Russia, he paid particular attention to Russian writers, such as: I. Babel, A. Sołżenicyn, M. Gorki (a collection of short stories and sketches Drugie przyjście (The Second Coming), Paris 1963), or F. Dostojewski, B. Pasternak, I. Erenburg, O. Mandelsztam, M. Bułhakow, A. Płatonow (the collectionUpiory rewolucji (The Ghosts of the Revolution), Paris 1969). In his polemic with A. Zinoviev he rejected the argument about the birth of Homo Sovieticus - the new man; he pointed to the timeliness of the nineteenth-century liberal Russian thought as the source of a different anti-Soviet Russia. He continuously returned, as an interpreter and polemicist, to the works of F. Kafka, Dostojewski, J. Conrad, W. Gombrowicz, Cz. Miłosz, L. Sciascii, G. Tomasi di Lampedusy. Searching for an intellectual program for the emigration after 1945, he was against Messianism of the Polish Romantics, perceiving it as a cult of the past and suffering. A constant theme of his work (from 1957) was art, architecture, sculpture and portraits, landscapes, particularly on religious themes (Caravaggio, P. Dell Francesco, Masaccio, A. Mantegn, J. Riber), the relationship between ethics and aesthetics (Sześć medalionów i Srebrna Szkatułka (Six Medallions and the Silver Casket) 1994, Portret wenecki (Venetian Portrait) 1995); metaphysical and religious issues, often presented polemically against the institution of the Catholic Church (Drugie przyjście), and fate, destiny, evil, injustice, passion. In the stories from the volume Gorący oddech pustyni (The Hot Breath of the Desert) and Don Ildebrando (both 1997) Christological themes and symbolism give way to the motif of evil, often described in a Manichean perspective, and art devoid of ethics loses its meaning; autobiographical issues become more frequent. Until 1988 Herling-Grudziński’s works were banned in Poland, and published only in samizdat editions.
Pisma zebrane, ed. Z. Kudelski, vol. 1–10, Warsaw 1995–98;
Opowiadania zebrane, ed. Z. Kudelski, vol. 1–2, Warsaw 1999.
Etos i artyzm. Rzecz o Herlingu-Grudzińskim, ed. S. Wysłouch, R.K. Przybylski, Poznań 1991;
Z. Kudelski Pielgrzym świętokrzyski. Szkice o Herlingu-Grudzińskim, Lublin 1991;
R.K. Przybylski Być i pisać. O prozie Gustawa Herlinga-Grudzińskiego, Poznań 1991;
O Gustawie Herlingu-Grudzińskim, ed. J. Pacławski et al., vol. 1–3, Kielce 1992–99;
W. Bolecki Rozmowy w Dragonei, Warsaw 1997;
Z. Kudelski Studia o Herlingu-Grudzińskim. Twórczość, recepcja, biografia, Lublin 1998;
W. Bolecki Rozmowy w Neapolu, Warsaw 2000.
Włodzimierz Bernacki
Entry based on source materials of PWN.
