The artist Marek Zulawski, translation & Polish-British culture

Hi,

I regularly have nightmares. 

At least once a week, I have some sort of upsetting adventure in my sleep. Monsters feature, murderers too. Cannibalism, radioactive meltdowns, zombies, and friends falling to their deaths.

The other day I had a nightmare about a meteor coming to destroy Earth.

I looked at my two children as they peered out the window happily trying to see the meteor coming, unaware that it meant their doom. That they would be no more. 

A suffocating panic hit me as I realised they would never grow old, never experience life, never get to have any adventures, never have kids of their own, never get beyond the mental capabilities of innocent biscuit-obsessed toddlers.

I woke up just before the meteor hit. Rather than feeling relief that it was all a dream, I lay there and cried for a couple of minutes, terrified I might ever have to feel like that in real life, overwhelmed with sympathy for all those people and children who have lost their lives too soon.

So this week, for the newsletter, I decided to translate a passage by my father mostly directed to me. Our relationship was cut short when he died, although, through projects like this newsletter, it somehow continues.

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A note to my son

The Tatras by Dariusz Robert Drewnicki from Pixabay

Today, the first day of June 1983, my son will be in the Tatra Mountains for the first time. In Krzeptówki, Zosia, Magda and Marysia are waiting for him... Unfortunately, he won't remember this when he grows up. Right now, he's probably driving with his mother from Kraków to Zakopane. 

From the top of Obidowa, the Tatra panorama is at its most magnificent. Can his little eyes take it all in? Can he understand what he sees?

If I were with him now, I could show him each individual peak — those wearing white caps of spring snow and those that catch the clouds. I could tell him their names — the extraordinarily beautiful names of the Tatra peaks: Łomnica, Lodowy, Ostry, Gerlach, Jaworowy, Ganek, Wysoka, Rysy, Chruby Mięguszowiecki, Mnich and hundreds of others. And how my path led to one of them, the first ascent of the north face of Wysoka, the northwest precipice of the Ganek Gallery, which I did in the year of our Lord 1931, unrepeated by anyone until 1939. Oh yes, I could tell him many things about my youthful expeditions, but my little son is too small to comprehend, and he would probably only cling to his mother, seeking refuge in her arms from the chilly mountain breeze and the vastness of the world.

But remember, my son, to never disregard the Polish language, in which there are such beautiful names for the Tatra peaks, and in which I am writing these words to you. As a teenager, you will probably want to be like your English friends — but remember that language is a path to understanding culture, and that by belonging to two cultures, English and Polish, you will be richer than them.

Your grandfather Jerzy Żuławski, in a premonition — I suppose — of his premature death, wrote shortly before his end a poem titled "To My Sons." With this poem, he threw upon us, namely Julek and me, the heavy net of his romantic expectations. With this final testament, he condemned Julek to be a patriotic knight and exiled me from the country. Poetry has great power. Julek’s symbol became a War Horse, and mine a Ship with a sail made from a mother's shawl. All of this came true. For when we speak sincerely — we prophesise. When a vision is born in our soul, we conjure up, namely create the future. There is no ready-made vision for you, my son.

You are free and it's up to you, and you only, what you do with your freedom. I will have passed on before you will have learnt to accept my helping hand. Alas.

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Two films coming up

A final reminder that the film version of On the Silver Globe is playing in Edmonton, Canada. There is now a Facebook event page for it, if you like that sort of thing. The screening is next week on July 14th, the 150th anniversary of the author Jerzy Żuławski's birth. I'm recording my 2-minute welcome for the film this week, and considering jazzing it up by adding star wipes in a video editor.

Also, the trailer for A Real Pain has finally been released - set in modern Poland and looking pretty funny, it's already creating whispers about an Oscar nomination for Kieran Culkin. I think it's set to do well. This teaser trailer has no plot spoilers too, which I like very much.

Returning back to Jerzy Żuławski for a moment, there is now an official press release about his 150th anniversary here in English, including information about a simulated space mission next week called the "Żuławski Analog Mission" 🚀

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That's all for this week. Many thanks for reading.

Adam

Adam Zulawski

TranslatingMarek.com / TranslatePolishMemoirs.com / Other stuff

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