Discovering a new writer is always a thrill: you are suddenly acquainted with someone you didn't realise you had wanted to know. CB Editions have just issued a selection of the strange supernatural stories of the Polish writer Stefan Grabinski (1887-1936) translated by Wiesiek Powaga. Critics have labelled him "the Polish Poe" for obvious reasons but, hard as it is to judge the quality of prose translated from another language, I wonder if there isn't a touch of Oscar Wilde in his sensual language. These stories, all with a bizarre twist, are beautifully realised and attentive to detail and I couldn't recommend them highly enough. Grabinski (sorry I can't do the accent on the 'n' here) was born in the eastern provinces of Poland which are now the Ukraine and moved to Lvov where he became a teacher and seems to have spent a lot of his life in relative obscurity. Other works have been translated and there's a website dedicated to him.
Monday, 3 March 2008
Stefan Grabinski: the Polish Poe
Discovering a new writer is always a thrill: you are suddenly acquainted with someone you didn't realise you had wanted to know. CB Editions have just issued a selection of the strange supernatural stories of the Polish writer Stefan Grabinski (1887-1936) translated by Wiesiek Powaga. Critics have labelled him "the Polish Poe" for obvious reasons but, hard as it is to judge the quality of prose translated from another language, I wonder if there isn't a touch of Oscar Wilde in his sensual language. These stories, all with a bizarre twist, are beautifully realised and attentive to detail and I couldn't recommend them highly enough. Grabinski (sorry I can't do the accent on the 'n' here) was born in the eastern provinces of Poland which are now the Ukraine and moved to Lvov where he became a teacher and seems to have spent a lot of his life in relative obscurity. Other works have been translated and there's a website dedicated to him.
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9 comments:
This is near the top of my tbr-pile. And you've just nudged it a wee bit nearer the top Nick! Thanks for that. The rest of the series all look worth the effort too ...
Having just read Ackroyd's competent wee Poe biog, I'm just in the right frame of mood too!
Why couldn't you recommend them highly enough?
Because I was using a rather jejeune English standard conversational idiom instead of a fresh and original one.
The moral being to be careful when using jejeune English standard conversational idioms instead of a fresh and original ones.
Or perhaps the moral is that people should have a sense of humour?
That was the nature of what we were just doing, merely fooling with language. Though the written word does tend to be far less clear that the spoken one.
The moral post may admittedly have appeared to be a reproof, but its ontological nature was merely impoverished funniness.
A delayed thank you, Mr Murray, for the Grabinski mention. Every little helps (pardon the standard conversational idiom). You may care to look at the CBe blog, which is at sonofabook.blogspot.
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