Jarosław Marek Rymkiewicz

Who is Jarosław Marek Rymkiewicz?

Jarosław Marek Rymkiewicz is a Polish poet, essayist, dramatist and literary critic. He is the son of Władysław Szulc, of German and Polish origin, who changed his last name to Rymkiewicz and of Hanna Baranowska, of German and Tatar origin.

As a poet, he is influenced by the traditions of classicism and the baroque. He has received multiple prizes for his novels, essays, and translations, including the Kościelski Prize, S. Vincenz Prize, and Polish PEN Club Prize. His volume of poetry Zachód słońca w Milanówku won the prestigious Nike Award in 2003.

Although Rymkiewicz is primarily a poet, he is better known as the author of two influential novels that contributed to the two most important debates of the 1980s: that involving martial law and Polish-Jewish relations. His novel Rozmowy polskie latem, 1983 discusses the meaning of being Polish and the preoccupation with achieving independence. Rymkiewicz’s second novel, entitled Umschlagplatz, had a greater impact. Instytut Literacki, the largest Polish émigré publishing house, originally published the novel in Paris in 1988 as it could not appear in communist Poland.