Elżbieta Szemplińska-Sobolewska

Elżbieta Szemplińska-Sobolewska
Elżbieta Szemplińska-Sobolewska c.1935
BornElżbieta Szemplińska
(1910-04-29)29 April 1910.
Warsaw. Warsaw Governorate, Congress Poland
Died27 April 1991(1991-04-27) (aged 80).
Warsaw, Poland
Resting placeBródno Cemetery
Pen name
  • Szem [1]
  • Ealt Ibże
  • Ryszard Bogumił
Occupation
LanguagePolish
EducationUniversity of Warsaw (didn't graduate)
Notable works
  • Narodziny człowieka (1932)
  • Zrosty (1938–1939) [2]
Spouse
Zygmunt Sobolewski
​
​
(m. 1932; died 1951)​
Children2
Relatives

Elżbieta Szemplińska-Sobolewska (née Szemplińska; 1910–1991) was a Polish poet, prose writer and painter.[1][3][4][5]

Early life and education

Elżbieta Szemplińska-Sobolewska was born 29 April 1910, in Warsaw to Stanisława Szemplińska (née Malewska). and Zygmunt Szempliński, a economist, banker, journalist and possible university lecturer.[6][5] Szemplińska-Sobolewska had one younger brother Stefan Szempliński (1913–1997), a journalist, member of the Polish Underground State and platoon commander.[5][7]

Szemplińska-Sobolewska's paternal uncle was Tadeusz Szempliński, a banker and signatory of the "Declaration of the Hundred of February 22, 1916" (Polish: Deklarację Stu z 22 lutego 1916 r.).[5] Through her uncle, Szemplińska-Sobolewska was the paternal cousin of Olympic Fencer and Polish partisan Kazimierz Szempliński.[5]

Growing up in Warsaw, Szemplińska-Sobolewska was educated at Gimnazjum im. M. Konopnickiej where she was a high school classmate of Janina Dłuska, the future wife of Czesław Miłosz.[6][8] In 1928, Szemplińska-Sobolewska enrolled at the University of Warsaw. [6] However, due to ill health and financial difficulties Szemplińska-Sobolewska didn't complete her studies.[6]

Career

Early career

In 1926, Szemplińska-Sobolewska's first prose "Ojciec" (English: Father) was published in Robotnik under the pen name "Ealt Ibże".[6]

In 1932, Szemplińska-Sobolewska published her first novel "The Birth of Man: A Novel. Part 1, Joyful Affirmation" (Polish: Narodziny człowieka: powieść. [Cz. 1], Radosna afirmacja), which received praise from Maria Czapska and Irena Krzywicka.[9] Around 1932, Szemplińska-Sobolewska married Zygmunt Sobolewski, a sports journalist.[1][6][5] The following year Szemplińska-Sobolewska published "Wiersze" (English: Poems), her only volume of interwar period poetry [9]

An early member of the interwar Communist Party of Poland, Szemplińska-Sobolewska was known within Warsaw's literary circles as a supporter of the radical left and Marxism.[10][9] Part of the interwar generation of Polish poets known as the Pokolenie 1910 (English: The 1910 Generation), Szemplińska-Sobolewska's work was reflective of the larger shifts within Polish culture and life.[11][9]

In 1935, Szemplińska-Sobolewska joined the Trade Union of Polish Writers (Polish: Związek Zawodowy Literatów Polskich).[5]

Lviv

In 1938, Szemplińska-Sobolewska was part of the Lviv Anti-Fascist Congress of Cultural Workers.[6]

In September 1939, following the Invasion of Poland, Szemplińska-Sobolewska fled with her husband to Lwów, Second Polish Republic (present-day Lviv, Ukraine).[6] Szemplińska-Sobolewska was one of the fourteen signatories of the declaration of "Polish writers welcome the unification of Ukraine" (Polish: Pisarze polscy witaja zjednoczenie Ukrainy).[12][13] From 1940–1941, Szemplińska-Sobolewska was one of two Polish writers on the editorial board of Literatura i mystetstvo (Ukrainian: Література і мистецтво), the journal of the Lviv Organisation of the Union of Soviet Writers of Ukraine.[14][15][16][17] However, Szemplińska-Sobolewska had little influence over the content of the magazine due to her lack of fluency in Ukrainian.[14]

In Spring 1941, Szemplińska-Sobolewska became the editor-in-chief of Almanach Literacki (English: Literary Quarterly), the Polish language quarterly of the Lviv Organisation.[18][19] Sometime between 1939 and 1940 Szemplińska-Sobolewska gave birth to the couple's first son.[5]

Soviet Union

Following the outbreak of the German–Soviet War in June 1941, Szemplińska-Sobolewska fled to Kharkov, UkrSSR (present-day, Ukraine) with Zygmunt Sobolewski and their son.[5][6] In 1942, Szemplińska-Sobolewska's son died aged around 2 years.[5] Szemplińska-Sobolewska and Sobolewski subsequently lived in the UzSSR (present-day, Uzbekistan) in the cities of Tashkent and Samarkand.[6][5] Later the couple lived in Kuybyshev (present-day, Samara, Russia), Kivertsi (present-day, Ukraine). [6][5] In 1944, the couple moved to Moscow where Szemplińska-Sobolewska gave birth to there second son.[6][5]

According to Czesław Miłosz, Szemplińska-Sobolewska's experience of life under Soviet Communism made her determined to defect to the West.[8]

Post-war

From 1946 to 1948, Sobolewski served as the consul of the Republic of Poland in Luxembourg.[5] During this time Szemplińska-Sobolewska published several poems in London under the pseudonym "Ryszard Bogumił", which were critical of the establishment of communist-rule in Poland.[5]

Exile

In 1948, the family fled first to France and then onto Rome.[5] The couple were given new passports and identities by Kazimierz Papée, the Ambassador of the Polish Government in Exile to the Vatican.[5] The couple then moved to Morocco and settled in Casablanca.[5][6]

On the 31 January 1951, Sobolewski boarded a boat to Rome which subsequently disappeared.[5][8] Sobolewski's body was later found on a beach in Andalusia, and was subsequently identified during an autopsy on the 25 November 1955.[5]

In 1958, Szemplińska-Sobolewska emigrated to Paris.[6]

Return to Poland

In 1962, Szemplińska-Sobolewska returned to Warsaw. Szemplińska-Sobolewska died on the 27 April 1991, and is buried at Bródno Cemetery.[6]

Szemplińska-Sobolewska was the favourite poet of actress Maria Wiercińska.[11]

Publications

Poetry

  • Szemplińska, Elżbieta (1933). Wiersze [Poems]. Warsaw: Towarzystwo Wydawnicze.
  • Szemplińska, Elżbieta (1941). Łańcuch [The Chain]. Kyiv; Lviv: Państwowe Wydawnictwo Mniejszości Narodowych.
  • Szemplińska, Elżbieta (1943). Pożegnanie [Farewell]. Moscow: Wydawnictwo Literatury w Językach Obcych.
  • Szemplińska, Elżbieta (1946). Krzyż Warszawy: wiersze zebrane [The Cross of Warsaw: collected poems]. Warsaw: Nowa Epoka.
  • Szemplińska-Sobolewska, Elżbieta (1968). Notatki z podróży: wybór wierszy [Travel Notes: Selected Poems]. Warsaw: Czytelnik.

Novels

Short stories

  • Szemplińska, Elżbieta (1935). 18 spotkań [18 meetings]. Lviv; Warsaw: Książnica Atlas.
  • Szemplińska-Sobolewska, Elżbieta (1963). Powrót z daleka [Return from afar]. Warsaw: Czytelnik.

Children's literature

  • Sobolewska, Elżbieta (1965). Kolczasty gość [The Prickly Guest]. Warsaw: Nasza Księgarnia.

Lyrics

Awards and nominations

Award Year Nominated work Result Ref(s)
Polish Academy of Literature Youth Award (Polish: Nagrody Młodych Polskiej Akademii Literatury) 1935 The Birth of Man: A Novel. Part 1, Joyful Affirmation (Polish: Narodziny człowieka: powieść. [Cz. 1], Radosna afirmacja) Nominated [5]

Notes

^α Parts 2 and 3 were lost during World War II..[6]

References

  1. ^ a b c Warnke, Agnieszka (2021). "Poland's Forgotten Women Poets". Culture.pl. Warsaw: Adam Mickiewicz Institute. Retrieved 18 June 2025.
  2. ^ Soporowska-Wojtczak, Olga, "Prócz krzywdy, nędzy, choroby, czyż jest co jeszcze?" Lewicowy model twórczości na przykładzie Elżbiety Szemplińskiej-Sobolewskiej (PDF), pp. 381–393, retrieved 24 June 2025
  3. ^ "Szemplińska-Sobolewska, Elżbieta (1910-....) forme internationale". BnF Catalogue général (in French). Paris: Bibliothèque nationale de France. 1990. Retrieved 18 June 2025.
  4. ^ "Szemplińska-Sobolewska, Elżbieta (1910-1991). (Hasło osobowe)". Narodowy Uniwersalny Katalog Centralny (in Polish). Warsaw: University of Warsaw Library. Retrieved 21 June 2025.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Soporowska-Wojtczak, Olga (2013). "Biografia". Twórczość Elżbiety Szemplińskiej-Sobolewskiej [The Works of Elżbieta Szemplińska-Sobolewska] (in Polish). Poznań: Adam Mickiewicz University, Faculty of Polish and Classical Philology. pp. 10–121. hdl:10593/8795. Retrieved 18 June 2025.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Szałagan, Alicja (2007). "SZEMPLIŃSKA-SOBOLEWSKA Elżbieta". Cyfrowy Słownik Pisarzy i Badaczy XX i XXI wieku Instytut Badań Literackich Polskiej Akademii Nauk (in Polish). Warsaw: Instytut Badań Literackich Polskiej Akademii Nauk. Retrieved 18 June 2025.
  7. ^ "Powstańcze biogramy: Stefan Szempliński" [Insurgent biographies: Stefan Szempliński]. Muzeum Powstania Warszawskiego (in Polish). Warsaw. 2016. Retrieved 19 June 2025.
  8. ^ a b c Miłosz, Czesław (2002). Milosz's ABC's. New York City: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. pp. 278–279. ISBN 978-0374527952.
  9. ^ a b c d Wróbel, Elżbieta (2018). ""Ta gorsza" – czyli o kilku wierszach Elżbiety Szemplińskiej" ["The Worse One" - or a Few Poems by Elżbieta Szemplińska]. Poznańskie Studia Polonistyczne. Seria Literacka (in Polish) (32): 95–111. doi:10.14746/pspsl.2018.32.5.
  10. ^ Tucker, Janet (2006). "Review of Gender and Sexuality in Ethical Context: Ten Essays on Polish Prose, by Knut Andreas Grimstad, Ursula Phillips". The Slavic and East European Journal. 50 (2): 349–351. doi:10.2307/20459277. JSTOR 20459277. Retrieved 20 June 2025.
  11. ^ a b Flader-Rzeszowska, Katarzyna (2024). ""Myślę sobie przyjemnie o wierszach": Poetyckie fascynacje Marii Wiercińskiej" [“Thinking Pleasant Thoughts about Poems”: Maria Wiercińska’s Poetic Fascinations]. Pamietnik Teatralny (in Polish). 63 (2). Warsaw: 9–38. doi:10.36744/pt.2597. ISSN 2658-2899.
  12. ^ Baliszewski, Dariusz (1999). Kunert, Andrzej Krzysztof (ed.). Prawdziwa historia Polaków: 1939-1942 [The True History of Poles: 1939-1942] (in Polish) (1 ed.). Warsaw: Oficyna Wydawnicza Rytm. p. 168.
  13. ^ "Pisarze polscy witaja zjednoczenie Ukrainy". Czerwony Sztandar (in Polish). 48. Lwów. 19 September 1939.
  14. ^ a b Tarnavskyi, Ostap (1995). Літературний Львів, 1939-1944: спомини [Literary Lviv, 1939-1944: Memories] (in Ukrainian). Lviv: Prosvita. p. 41. ISBN 5-7707-0612-0. Retrieved 19 June 2025.
  15. ^ Martyniuk, Viktor. "Literatura i Mystetsvo Magazine". Database of the Literary Lviv (±1939). Lviv: Lviv Interactive. Retrieved 19 June 2025.
  16. ^ Martyniuk, Viktor. "Lviv Organization of the Union of Soviet Writers of Ukraine". Database of the Literary Lviv (±1939). Lviv: Lviv Interactive. Retrieved 19 June 2025.
  17. ^ Wasilewska, Wanda; Desnâk, Oleksa; Karmans'kij, Petro Sil'vestrovič; Oleksûk, Stepan Iosifovič; Szemplińska-Sobolewska, Elżbieta (eds.). "Література і Мистецтво" [Literature and art] (in Ukrainian). Львів: Вільна Україна.
  18. ^ Tarnavskyi, Ostap (1995). Літературний Львів, 1939-1944: спомини [Literary Lviv, 1939-1944: Memories] (in Ukrainian). Lviv: Prosvita. pp. 39–40. ISBN 5-7707-0612-0. Retrieved 19 June 2025.
  19. ^ Szemplińska-Sobolewska, Elżbieta, ed. (1941). "KOLEGIUM REDAKCYJNE" [EDITORIAL BOARD]. Almanach Literacki: Kwartalnik Lwowskiej Organizacji Związku Pisarzy USRR (in Polish). 1 (1). Lviv: Państwowe Wydawnictwo Mniejszości Narodowych USRR: 6. Retrieved 19 June 2025.
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