Andrzej Franaszek
Herbert: Biograf ia
2 vols. Kraków. Wydawnictwo Znak. 2018.
857 & 958 pages.
Andrzej Franaszek once again undertook a
gigantic task when, after his successful biog-
raphy of Nobel Prize–winning Polish author
Czesław Miłosz (2011, English translation
2016), he decided to write a comprehensive
biography of another outstanding Polish
poet, Zbigniew Herbert (1924–1998). In
the case of the latter, Franaszek had at his
disposal a wealth of unpublished mate-
rial: Herbert’s diaries and notes, letters from
friends and translators, correspondence
with women close to the poet, as well as
many eyewitness accounts of his poetry
readings and opinions from different peri-
ods. Paradoxically, Zbigniew Herbert, first
a silent, later increasingly a vocal opponent
of the Communist regime in his country,
reached fame sooner outside Poland, pro-
voked controversy after his final return to
his homeland, while his memory was kept
alive twenty years after his death by the
Republic of Poland declaring 2018 a Memo-
rial Year of Zbigniew Herbert.
Franaszek divides his material into seven
long chapters across two volumes and within
his chronological approach finds room for
subchapters focusing on particular themes.
This works reasonably well, though it leads
to minor repetitions. While following the
biographical thread, Herbert appears in at
least four distinct roles: as a private person,
a talented poet, a budding dramatist, and
a cultural essayist with an excellent eye for
the fine arts.
It is as an essayist that Herbert scored
his first international success: Barbarian in
the Garden (Babarzyńca w ogrodzie, 1962),
a collection translated into several European
languages, was proof of the poet’s profoundinterest in the beginnings of European cul-
ture (Lascaux) as well as Greek and Ital-
ian art, not omitting the consequences of
such antiheretical “internal Crusades” as the
war that ended with the extinction of the
Cathars. While writing this book, Herbert
spent more time in Paris and London than
in Poland, finding new friends and support-
ers in western Europe and the United States:
the critic Al Alvarez in London, his transla-
tors Karl Dedecius and Klaus Staemmler
in Germany, and the most loyal American
Polish couple, John and Bogdana Carpenter
in America.
This comprehensive biography will also
satisfy readers curious about Herbert’s pri-
vate life, providing information on his inter-
national romances as well as long-standing
emotional attachments. As for the latter,
here two women seem to dominate: Halina
Misiołek, a married woman whom Herbert
met in 1950, and the aristocratic Katar-
zyna (“Kasia”) Dzieduszycka, his wife from
March 1968 to his death thirty years later.
The correspondences with and reminis-
cences of both are essential to understand-
ing the twists and turns of Herbert’s colorful
life, spiced from time to time by romances
with a French woman, an Austrian actress
(both older than the poet), and a young
German admirer. Equally important are
Herbert’s friendships with (usually older)
writers and critics such as Jerzy Zawieyski,Books in Review
ANDRZEJ FRANASZEKmonsters reveal themselves to be inside the
characters. And in each character there are
monsters asking us, “What beast do you
have clawing inside?” Luisa is a teenage ide-
alist, a thrill-seeker, and a novice researcher
of shipwrecks. Her monster is discovered
along the way to her many random yet
pointed decisions, such as her most surpris-
ing one to run away with a boy to a beach
known to drown even skilled swimmers in
its treacherous undertow.
The randomness of Luisa’s decisions are
a part of the allure and mixed engagement
one may find in the book; even Luisa’s
escapades in Zipolite are conjured by an
obsession she finds arbitrarily: an old article
in the newspaper describing the escape of
twelve Ukrainian dwarves from a Russian
circus, last reported to be heading to the
coast of Oaxaca. Although this exotifica-
tion of little people may seem problematic
to 2019 readers, this is part of what sets the
tone of the novel: Luisa is detached from the
world in her nascent adulthood and inno-
cent of hard experiences. Luisa believes theworld around her is calling her to be a part
of a grander mystery, but in reality, her deci-
sions are the acts of someone in the midst of
becoming who they are.
Aridjis gives us a character who is
hard to pin down. We can judge Luisa for
pushing her storytelling whims on those
around her, but then we would also have
to judge ourselves for seeking the trails
of narrative when, perhaps, the world is
merely existing.
Marilyse V. Figueroa
Austin, Texas108 W LT SUMMER 2019