Konstanty Ildefons Gałczyński (23 January 1905 – 6 December 1953),łczyń alias Karakuliambro, was a Polish poet. He is well known for the "paradramatic" absurd humorous sketches of the Green Goose Theatre.
Biography
Born to a lower-middle-class family in Warsaw, Gałczyński was evacuated with his parents at the outbreak of World War I, and from 1914 to 1918 he lived in Moscow, where he attended a Polish school. Returning to Poland in 1918, he studied classics and English language at the University of Warsaw, submitting a dissertation on a non-existent nineteenth-century English poet, Morris Gordon Cheats.
His literary debut came in 1923 and was a member of the Kwadryga group of poets, and he was linked to satirical and political publications. In 1930 he married Natalia Avalov. From 1931-33, he held the post of cultural attaché in Berlin. From 1934-36 he was in Vilnius. He settled there at 2 Młynowa Street. There, in 1936, the couple's daughter Kira was born. Through his works, Gałczyński refers to the atmosphere of Vilnius, and that which Adam Mickiewicz left behind.
With the outbreak of World War II, Gałczyński received a draft card from the army. He took part in the Polish September Campaign of 1939. On 17 September, he became a Russian prisoner of war and was later captured by the Germans. He spent the duration of the occupation in the Stalag XI-A prisoner-of-war camp in Altengrabow, his poems printed secretly in anthologies. After the war he travelled to Brussels and Paris, returning to Poland in 1946. He established The 13 Muses Club in Szczecin in 1948 before moving back to Warsaw, and produced work for numerous weekly magazines.
Many of his postwar pieces, including "A Poem for the Traitor" ("Poemat dla zdrajcy"), an attack on Czesław Miłosz, "Chryzostom Bulwieć’s Trip to Ciemnogród" ("Podróż Chryzostoma Bulwiecia do Ciemnogrodu") and the panegyric "Stalin is Dead" ("Umarł Stalin") (1953), were written according to socialist realist conventions. In 1950, he became the object of an ideological battle, his artistic work denounced by Adam Ważyk at the Reunion of Polish Writers as petit bourgeois.
In the later years of his life, he wrote several greater poetic forms: "Jan Sebastian Bach's Easter" (1950) ("Wielkanoc Jana Sebastiana Bacha") "Niobe" (1951) "Wit Stwosz" (1952) "Olsztyn Chronicle" (1952) ("Kronika Olsztyńska")
From 1950 to 1953, he was associated with the forester’s lodge at Lake Nidzkie, where he wrote numerous works, including "Olsztyn Chronicle". It is there that his museum is currently located. He published the volumes of poetry Enchanted Droshky (1948) ("Zaczarowana dorożka"), Wedding Rings (1949) ("Ślubne obrączki") and Songs (1953) ("Pieśni"). He also produced translations, or paraphrases, of A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare (1952) and Ode to Joy by Friedrich Schiller.
He is portrayed, under the name of 'Delta,' in Miłosz's The Captive Mind (1953).
Death
He died on 6 December 1953, aged 48, following a third heart attack.
Artistic legacy
Gałczyński's poetry is an inspiration to many authors of popular music; some of his poems having a number of interpretations. They were used by Olga Lipińska in her TV cabaret among others. At the time of the People's Republic of Poland, his poem Beloved Country (Ukochany kraj) was made into a socialist feel-good song. A musical, Beloved Country, was directed by Janusz Józefowicz at Studio Buffo musical theatre.