{"id":183,"date":"2008-08-15T18:05:35","date_gmt":"2008-08-15T22:05:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/polish\/?p=180"},"modified":"2008-08-15T18:05:35","modified_gmt":"2008-08-15T22:05:35","slug":"required-reading-jan-brzechwa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/polish\/required-reading-jan-brzechwa\/","title":{"rendered":"Required Reading – Jan Brzechwa"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/em><\/p>\n

Today is a public holiday in Poland, the Feast of the Assumption, which is an important Catholic celebration, I presume. Though when I asked my friend this morning about the reason for a day off, she mumbled something about the Battle of Warsaw instead. That battle, also known as the Miracle at the Vistula, took place in August (naturally) of 1920 and is considered as the most decisive turn of the Polish-Soviet War. A guy by the name of J\u00f3zef Pi\u0142sudski<\/a><\/strong> was one of the Polish commanders. You might have heard of him. Some Polish-Americans think of him as \u201cthe George Washington of Poland<\/em>\u201d with which I must respectfully disagree. Pi\u0142sudski<\/strong> was definitely better looking.<\/p>\n

But neither one of these occasions can match the truly important event that happened on August 15 in 1898. That day a guy named Jan Wiktor Lesman<\/a><\/strong> was born in a podunk little Galician town somewhere in the middle of nowhere. My Polish readers will recognize him as Jan Brzechwa<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

And here I can just imagine them emitting loud snorts and feeling sorry for those of you who are not fluent in Polish.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>You see, August 15 is truly a momentous occasion, because without Jan Brzechwa<\/strong> we wouldn\u2019t have had the most famous tongue twister in the Polish language. I think that\u2019s a good enough reason to celebrate, wouldn\u2019t you agree?<\/p>\n

Jan Brzechwa<\/strong> is probably most known for his poems for children, and among them, the infamous \u201cChrz\u0105szcz<\/a><\/strong><\/em>\u201d (A Beetle). The opening line of that poem is probably<\/span> without a doubt the most difficult sentence to pronounce in Polish, even for a native speaker:<\/p>\n

\u201cW Szczebrzeszynie chrz\u0105szcz brzmi w trzcinie<\/a><\/strong>\u201d which in English would be \u201cIn Szczebrzeszyn, a beetle buzzes in the reed\u201d.<\/p>\n

Szczebrzeszyn<\/a><\/strong> is an actual Polish town, Mr. Brzechwa<\/strong> didn\u2019t make this name up. Really, you couldn\u2019t make something like that up even if you tried.<\/p>\n

You can read about the place here<\/a>, there is also a section in English. I\u2019ve never been to Szczebrzeszyn<\/strong>, but it\u2019s definitely on my list of places to visit. And what\u2019s there to do? I\u2019m not quite sure, I\u2019d go there just to see the statue of the beetle buzzing in the reed.<\/p>\n

Seriously, the good folk of Szczebrzeszyn<\/strong> decided to honor the little insect that made their town if not world-famous, then definitely Poland-famous, and erected it a quite handsome statue.<\/p>\n

But Jan Brzechwa<\/strong> didn\u2019t just write this one impossible to pronounce poem. He wrote bunches of them. And they\u2019re all witty and delightful, sometimes lyrical, but always amusing. Yet the guy wasn\u2019t even a writer by training. He studied law and actually worked as a lawyer, too. Apart from \u201cChrz\u0105szcz<\/strong><\/em>\u201d, most Poles of various ages can quote at least two other Brzechwa<\/strong>\u2019s poems: \u201cKaczka Dziwaczka<\/a><\/strong><\/em>\u201d (a story about one very strange duck) and \u201cTa\u0144cowa\u0142a ig\u0142a z nitk\u0105<\/a><\/strong><\/em>\u201d (A Needle Dancing With a Thread). I will try to rustle up some proper translations of these, and if not these, then of some other of his writings.<\/p>\n

Jan Brzechwa<\/strong> is also famous for a series of books about a magical academy (hmmm, sounds familiar, doesn\u2019t it?)<\/em> for boys. I was never a fan of the \u201cPan Kleks<\/a><\/strong><\/em>\u201d (Mr. Kleks, and by the way, \u201ckleks<\/strong>\u201d literally means \u201cink blot\u201d) books, because well, there were only boys in them. And when you\u2019re like nine or ten years old, you think boys are sooooo gross!<\/p>\n

photo: Wikipedia<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Today is a public holiday in Poland, the Feast of the Assumption, which is an important Catholic celebration, I presume. Though when I asked my friend this morning about the reason for a day off, she mumbled something about the Battle of Warsaw instead. That battle, also known as the Miracle at the Vistula, took…<\/p>\n

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