Web of Stories - Life Stories of Remarkable People | Adam Zagajewski - Gliwice – a provincial but vibrant town (8/50) @webofstories | Uploaded April 2019 | Updated October 2024, 19 hours ago.
To listen to more of Adam Zagajewski’s stories, go to the playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVV0r6CmEsFzyCHpawMfzZc5HzhP38Qz7
Adam Zagajewski (1945-2021) was a Polish poet, novelist, translator and essayist. He is considered as one of the leading poets of the Generation of '68 or the Polish New Wave (Polish: Nowa fala) and is one of Poland's most prominent contemporary poets. [Listener: Andrzej Wolski; date recorded: 2018]
TRANSCRIPT: October '56 that's also – like I said, I was 11 years old, I didn't understand much but I knew that something... Gliwice might have been a provincial town, but there was a lot happening there, too, as I know partly from later accounts. However, it was obvious at the time that suddenly there was a great number of meetings, recitals, lectures. This awakening of public opinion is very interesting – in '56 following the big Stalinist freeze, public opinion awoke. People wanted to know more, they wanted to listen, but they also wanted to speak out. And so in a small, insignificant place like Gliwice there is no shortage of technical know-how, there are students and, according to what I read later, Gliwice was among the most vibrant towns in Poland in that speakers would come from Warsaw. I can't say for certain, but I have a feeling that Kołakowski might have come, and that perhaps other pioneers of these changes came, too, changes that were also changes in awareness. However, I don't want to create the impression that I was or am some kind of political animal because I have a very peaceful, non-political life.
To listen to more of Adam Zagajewski’s stories, go to the playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVV0r6CmEsFzyCHpawMfzZc5HzhP38Qz7
Adam Zagajewski (1945-2021) was a Polish poet, novelist, translator and essayist. He is considered as one of the leading poets of the Generation of '68 or the Polish New Wave (Polish: Nowa fala) and is one of Poland's most prominent contemporary poets. [Listener: Andrzej Wolski; date recorded: 2018]
TRANSCRIPT: October '56 that's also – like I said, I was 11 years old, I didn't understand much but I knew that something... Gliwice might have been a provincial town, but there was a lot happening there, too, as I know partly from later accounts. However, it was obvious at the time that suddenly there was a great number of meetings, recitals, lectures. This awakening of public opinion is very interesting – in '56 following the big Stalinist freeze, public opinion awoke. People wanted to know more, they wanted to listen, but they also wanted to speak out. And so in a small, insignificant place like Gliwice there is no shortage of technical know-how, there are students and, according to what I read later, Gliwice was among the most vibrant towns in Poland in that speakers would come from Warsaw. I can't say for certain, but I have a feeling that Kołakowski might have come, and that perhaps other pioneers of these changes came, too, changes that were also changes in awareness. However, I don't want to create the impression that I was or am some kind of political animal because I have a very peaceful, non-political life.
