TV reveals lighter side of Nobel-winning Polish poet
Source: Agencies |
March 1, 2010, Monday
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Print Edition
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A RARE TV documentary about Nobel Prize-winning Polish poet Wislawa Szymborska portrays a lively yet distinguished woman who savors the world's contrasts ranging from 17th-century Dutch painting to boxing.
And, in a bit of unintended prescience, it shows a school document from 1937 that saw a classmate declare that she would one day win the Nobel Prize in literature, which she accomplished in 1996.
The 70-minute documentary "Sometimes Life is Bearable" by Katarzyna Kolenda-Zaleska being aired yesterday is the first time the notoriously media-shy writer offers such insight into her life and fascinations. She let a crew from Poland's TVN television visit her at home in Krakow and accompany her on travels throughout Europe from Italy to Ireland.
Viewers see Szymborska, 86, enjoying her lesser known hobby: composing short and saucy limericks while visiting places like Moher in Ireland or Sicily.
She is shown visiting art galleries and browsing in small shops for kitschy objects of art for herself and for friends.
But, in a more serious vein, she also explains why, as a young poet in 1953, she mourned the death of Soviet leader Josef Stalin.
"I wrote it. A pity. I regret it," she said, recalling that, at the time, many Polish intellectuals had placed great faith and hope in communism in the aftermath of World War II.
"I didn't do that for career or for money," she said. "That's how I thought then."
In the film, Woody Allen, Czech playright-turned-president Vaclav Havel and British anthropologist Jane Goodall speak of their appreciation for her verse, which deals with the profound or tragic through small details of daily existence.
And, in a bit of unintended prescience, it shows a school document from 1937 that saw a classmate declare that she would one day win the Nobel Prize in literature, which she accomplished in 1996.
The 70-minute documentary "Sometimes Life is Bearable" by Katarzyna Kolenda-Zaleska being aired yesterday is the first time the notoriously media-shy writer offers such insight into her life and fascinations. She let a crew from Poland's TVN television visit her at home in Krakow and accompany her on travels throughout Europe from Italy to Ireland.
Viewers see Szymborska, 86, enjoying her lesser known hobby: composing short and saucy limericks while visiting places like Moher in Ireland or Sicily.
She is shown visiting art galleries and browsing in small shops for kitschy objects of art for herself and for friends.
But, in a more serious vein, she also explains why, as a young poet in 1953, she mourned the death of Soviet leader Josef Stalin.
"I wrote it. A pity. I regret it," she said, recalling that, at the time, many Polish intellectuals had placed great faith and hope in communism in the aftermath of World War II.
"I didn't do that for career or for money," she said. "That's how I thought then."
In the film, Woody Allen, Czech playright-turned-president Vaclav Havel and British anthropologist Jane Goodall speak of their appreciation for her verse, which deals with the profound or tragic through small details of daily existence.
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