The artist Marek Zulawski, translation & Polish-British culture

Hi,

This week I've translated something my father wrote in 1982, when he visited Poland while it was under Martial Law. 

The communist state was having trouble with rowdy unions striking (you'd think they'd be in favour of unions, but not so much). There were tanks on the streets, curfews at night, and you had to get permits to travel between cities. Not only that, but all media was censored and every phone booth was bugged, and thousands of people were imprisoned without trial. 

An interesting time to visit a country...

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What does it mean to be Polish?

Protests in Kraków, 1982, via pastdaily.com

In Poland, nothing is normal. Normality is an illusion. People are suffering from collective hysteria. They are internally torn in two.

The youth want to spill others' blood as well as their own. They want to change the geopolitical situation not through organic work, but through demonstrations, protests, anti-government posters, boycotts... The older generation is extremely irritated — they, above all, desire peace.

Poles — eternally discordant individualists, anarchists at heart — are the most difficult nation to govern. "Us" and "Them".

Everyone is naturally a patriot, but there are both wise and foolish patriots. The patriotism of the vast majority of Poles is a foolish patriotism because it doesn't take facts into account. It is a patriotism surrealistically motivated by national mythology. Everyone longs for "freedom", which they understand as the liberty to do whatever they please, not paying any mind to the interests of others. "Musi — to na Rusi," they say ('Must' is for Ruthenia) — but in Poland, it's every man for himself, my dear sir. Liberum veto.

Forcing Poles into social discipline and the rule of law seems an impossibility. Especially since forcing anyone to do anything does not align with the Polish character, nor do the draconian methods used in some other countries. Poles aren't very good at cruelty and fanaticism.

We had a monarchy in our history, which we called the Republic, and we had a dictatorship, which we called the Sanation. We now have a police state, which we call Democracy.

Half-monarchies, half-dictatorships, half-democracies. Half-measures.

Perhaps this is fortunate. Perhaps this half-heartedness is the only positive trait of Poles. Because it is the root of skepticism. Perhaps even humanism?

What is Polishness based on? In Warsaw and other cities, one constantly hears about demonstrations and provocations. The army and police are pelted with stones by youngsters and unemployed patriots, hooligans, heroes and recidivists.

The police respond with tear gas and fire hoses. As well as batons.

It's just like in Northern Ireland, but in the villages, it's different.

In Witów, Czarny Dunajec, in Chochołów. There, blessings flow through the fields. People live in harmonious collaboration with nature. With the land. There, the slogans of the political dissidents in Warsaw sound as hollow as clanging brass. Those who do not read literary weeklies do not care about censorship, those who do not know geography do not care about alliances.

Traditional wooden houses in Chochołów, 2016, taken by damiavos on Flickr

In Chochołów, early in the morning — the smell of baking bread. Old women drive lazy cows out to pasture. They plod down the middle of the road — ignoring the rare car, but on the side roads, tractors are already cheerfully chugging away. They are driven by farmers with serene faces, solidly dressed, shod, calm, relaxed. They have time to smile and greet passersby. I'm passed by ladder wagons filled to the sky with fragrant hay. On the hay are girls straight out of a Gainsborough painting.

The horses are beautiful, well-shod, well-fed, with round hindquarters. The horses snort vigorously. And in the fields, the harvest. Women squint into the sun, shading their eyes. Just as always, just as for millennia. Praised be. They wipe sweat from their brows and give you a smile.

And so it goes. The matter of a decent life far from politics, from demonstrations, from provocations. Forever and ever. Amen.

What does Polishness consist of? What should be defended and from what? What should be saved and from what?

Polishness is a custom. And this Polish custom must be defended against the influences of foreign customs. From the east comes Persian satrapy. Every man with a cap or an office is treated, in the beliefs of this foreign custom, like an authority. A ruler of life and death. This is completely contrary to Polish custom, just as it is contrary to the custom of the western world, where officials are servants of society, and the government is the administrator of national property.

I was in a torn, politicised and furious Poland. I saw demonstrations and provocations in Warsaw on August 31st. I did not participate in them. I didn't even feel sympathy for either side. Both sides pelting each other with stones and tear gas bombs equally astonished me — and were equally foreign to me. I found Polishness in Chochołów and later among the professors of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków.

Here is what Polishness is based on — on culture. On the culture of the land and on the culture of the spirit. That's what should be defended, that's what should be saved. Because regimes and political systems come and go. Only cultivated fields can remain for eternity — and Collegium Maius.

Collegium Maius's courtyard, photo by Allie Caulfield, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia

Today, the village of Chochołów is also home to the largest thermal water park in Poland. Having been there, I can confirm it's fantastic, but I'm not so sure it's maintaining Polish custom... I guess thermal baths are Polish culture? 🤔

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Andrzej film getting Hollywood remake

Andrzej Żuławski's only English-language film, Possession, is getting remade thanks to Robert Pattinson.

The original 1981 film was a metaphor about Andrzej's own love life, and I'm not sure how well it can be remade when it's really a personal story. But I do like Robert Pattinson. Yes, he was in the Harry Potter and Twilight films, but he was also in the mesmerising The Lighthouse and his recent turn in The Batman was surprisingly good. He's officially confirmed as producing the remake, but I'm sure he will end up acting in it too. The director attached, Parker Finn, made a small hit horror called Smile back in 2022.

If you haven't seen Possession, it's worth a watch. Being Andrzej's only English-language film helped cement its cult classic status - I wonder what sort of influence his other films would have had had they been in English too. Also fun is that it stars Sam Neill, who would go on to become a household name in the 1990s after starring in Jurassic Park.

If you like spoiler trailers, then here are two. The second one is funnier and possibly the original that was used in 1981.

Parts of the film's groovy soundtrack by Andrzej Korzyński are available for listening or purchase here - the full proper soundtrack is planned for release later this year.

As for its iconic Medusa-like film poster, it was created by Basha Baranowska, who you can read about here.

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That's all for this week. Many thanks for reading. If you enjoyed it, please forward it to somebody you like.

Adam

Adam Zulawski

TranslatingMarek.com / TranslatePolishMemoirs.com / Other stuff

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