Kazimierz Przerwa-Tetmajer

Kazimierz Przerwa - Tetmajer ( born February 12, 1865 in Ludźmierz, Podhale, † 18 January 1940 in Warsaw) was a Polish poet, writer and playwright.

Life and work

Przerwa - Tetmajer graduated from a high school in Krakow and studied at the Jagiellonian University in philosophy. He made his debut as a writer in 1886 with the Poem Illa. In 1888 he received a literary award for the poem in honor of Adam Mickiewicz, 1889 for the poem Józef Ignacy Kraszewski's honor. From 1888 to 1893 he wrote for the magazines Tygodnik Ilustrowany, Kurier Warszawski and Czas. He has published numerous volumes of poetry (among Poezja 1-8) and of the folklore of the highlanders inspired prose works such as Na skalnym Podhalu and Legenda tatr.

In 1934 he was made an honorary member of the Polska Akademia Literatury. Due to health problems, he retired from public life and lived as a resident in the hotel Europejski in Warsaw, from where he was expelled in January 1940 by the Germans. He died two weeks later in the Warsaw hospital Szpital Dzieciątka Jezus and was buried in Zakopane.

He was half-brother of the painter Włodzimierz Tetmajer and cousin of the writer Tadeusz Boy - Żeleński and Prof. Ludwig von Tetmajer.

Works (selection)

• Well skalnym Podhalu
• Legenda tatr
• Ksiądz Piotr
• Z Wielkiego domu
• Koniec epopei
• Aniol śmierci
• Panna Mery
• Sfinks
• Zawisza Czarny
• MAZ - poeta
• Rewolucja
• Judasz