Tomasz Różycki, a contemporary Polish poet and translator, was born in 1970 in Opole (Silesia, the southwestern part of Poland, a region that bears the mark of a distinct mixture of cultures). Różycki studied Romance languages at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. Alongside his work he translated poetry from French, publishing a translation of Stéphane Mallarmé’s Un coup de dés jamais n’abolira le hasard in 2005. He is the author of five collections of poems to great acclaim: Vaterland (1997), Anima (1999), Chata umaita (2001), Świat i antyświat (2003), and the long epic poem Dwanaście stacji (2004), for which he was awarded the Kościelski Prize, the most prestigious literary prize for Polish writers under forty. He thus joined the ranks of Poland’s most important writers, among them Sławomir Mrożek, Zbigniew Herbert, and Adam Zagajewski. The long, tragic-comic poem tells the story of a family gathering from the perspective of a third generation representative, post World War II. He gathers together all the members of his family who were expelled from Poland’s eastern regions half a century ago with the aim of revisiting their place of origin and of seeking out the church bells buried in 1945. The poem, compared by critics to the national epic Pan Tadeusz, moved the jury with its “humorous distance, but also warmly depicted praise, of the province and of family tradition.” In the same year, a collection of Różycki’s first three volumes appeared under the title Wiersze (Poems, 2004). His latest work, Kolonie (2007), brings together seventy-seven poems whose exotic titles such as Tawerna w porcie (Tavern at the Harbour), Ziemia Ognista (Fire Earth), and Cynamon i goździki (Cinnamon and Cloves) present a striking contrast to the depictions of everyday Polish country life and the melancholic thoughts they contain. His work has been translated into numerous European languages, and The Forgotten Keys: Selected Poetry of Tomasz Różycki and Colonies (translated by Mira Rosenthal) have just been published by Zephyr Press in USA. His latest books are Księga obrotów in 2010 and Bestiarium in 2012. His poems have been translated and published in Germany, France, Italy, Great Britain, and Slovakia. He has received the Krzysztof Kamil Baczyński Prize, the Joseph Brodski Prize from Zeszyty Literackie, and has been nominated twice for the Nike Prize, Poland’s most important literary award. He has participated in the Literaturexpress Europa 2000, the Krakow-Houston Summer Poetry Seminar (2004), and other international poetry festivals. He lives in his native city Opole with his wife and two children.
1. Kawa i Tytoń(第6頁)
咖啡與煙草(第7頁)
Coffee and Cigarettes(第8頁)
2. Kreole, Metysi(第9頁)
克里奧爾人、麥斯蒂索人(第10頁)
Creoles, Mestizos(第11頁)
3. Mrówki i Rekiny(第12頁)
螞蟻和鯊魚(第13頁)
Ants and Sharks(第14頁)
4. Dom Służby(第15頁)
僕人之家(第16頁)
Service Office(第17頁)
5. ŻAglowce Jej Królewskiej Mości(第18頁)
國王陛下的帆船(第19頁)
Her Majesty’s Fleet(第20頁)
6. Wulkan(第21頁)
火山(第22頁)
The Volcano(第23頁)
7. Cyklon Tropikalny(第24頁)
熱帶氣旋(第25頁)
Tropical Hurricane(第26頁)
8. Zapomniane Mapy(第27頁)
被遺忘的地圖(第28頁)
Scorched Maps(第29頁)
9. Kopalnie Złota(第30頁)
金礦(第31頁)
Gold Mine(第32頁)
10. Zamek (Przyjechałem tu Zastrzelić Prezydenta)(第33頁)