Opowieźci Mojej ˝Ony Tales Told by My Wife

OpowieÊci mojej ˝ony Tales Told by My Wife by Miros∏aw ˚u∏awski A glossed reader for the intermediate to advanced learner of Polish Edited by Oscar E. Swan A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE CITY OF PRZEMYÂL The city of PrzemyÊl is situated on the San River next to the contemporary Polish-Ukrainian border, about 90 kilometers from Lwów (Lviv) in the east and from Rzeszów to the west. The oldest historical mention of PrzemyÊl is from 981. A natural passage between the Carpatians and the Sandomierz Lowlands, called the “PrzemyÊl Gate,” has for centuries connected cities in Eastern and Western Europe. PrzemyÊl’s location in a border zone between three countries caused the rulers of Poland, Ruthenia, and Hungary to try to gain control over it from the 10th century on. The town has always been inhabited by a population of many nationalities, denominations, and cultures: Poles, Ruthenians, Germans, Czechs, Armenians, and Jews. By the 17th and 18th centuries, most minorities were assimilated, leaving Poles, Ruthenians, and Jews as the dominant ethnic groups in PrzemyÊl and its surroundings. In 1772, following the first partition of Poland, PrzemyÊl was incorporated into Austria. Its development became possible again only after 1880, when the Polish territories under Austrian rule (Galicia) were allowed a significant degree of autonomy. This development was connected to the town’s strategic location near the border of the Russian Empire. A system of fortifications was expanded to make up the PrzemyÊl Fortress, one of the largest fortresses in Europe at the time. Economic recovery was also fostered by the construction of the railway line which connected Cracow to Lwów, with a branch leading to Hungary. During the First World War the town and fortress were besieged by the Russian army twice. In November 1918, after Polish independence, the town found itself within the borders of “reborn” Poland. Its population of 50,000 was made up of Poles, Ukrainians, and Jews. PrzemyÊl again became a battlefield during the Second World War. From September 1939 to June 1941 the German-Soviet state border ran along the town’s section of the San River, accordance with the Nazi-Soviet Pact. In 1975, following Poland’s new administrative division, the Wojewódstwo (Province) of PrzemyÊl was established. The elevation of PrzemyÊl to the rank of a provincial capital had a beneficial effect on the city’s development, PrzemyÊl currently now numbers some 70,000 inhabitants. On the cover: coat of arms of the city of PrzemyÊl. 2 CONTENTS Introduction . .5 Bilet . .8 Topka soli albo g∏owa cukru. 15 Zbieg okolicznoÊci. 22 Âwiniobicie. .30 Starosta z Leska. 39 Ker. .47 Plecak. .58 Przeczucie. 67 Kluski z makiem. .75 Babie lato. .85 Mantylka. 94 Korek. .103 Mi∏oÊç. .111 Porzeczki. .120 Wizyta. 128 Obl´˝enie. .136 Orchidea. .144 Deszcz. 152 Cukierki. .159 Po˝egnanie . .166 Uwagi . 174 Album zdj´ç . .181 S∏ownik . .184 3 4 INTRODUCTION OpowieÊci mojej ˝ony (Tales Told by my Wife) by Miros∏aw ˚u∏awski (1913-1995) comprises a collection of anecdotal short stories, based on events taken from a family history spanning four generations, as if told by the narrator's wife before a group of family and close friends. Many stories are set in the and around the town of PrzemyÊl, in the southeastern part of contemporary Poland. Often amusing, but just as often of a philosophical bent, many of the stories contain surprise morals. Many arise out of nostalgia for the past, or are based on amusing or instructive juxtapositions between past and present customs, or between supposed differences between male and female behavior. Often stories depend on the unexpected consequences of taking a positive trait of character to an extreme. While touching occasionally on unhappy periods in 20th-century Polish history, the overall tone of the stories is optimistic, testifying to the continuity of life and the resilience of the individual in the face of life's adversities and unpredictabilities. This collection of glossed short stories is intended for supplementary use in Polish classes at any college level beyond the first year. The wide-ranging settings and correspondingly rich vocabulary make the stories especially suitable for introducing students to the written variant of contemporary Polish. The stories can be retold, analyzed, and discussed at various levels of linguistic and intellectual sophistication, whether orally or in written compositions. Due to their comparative brevity (stories range about seven or eight short INTRODUCTION pages in length), individual stories can be covered in two or two three class periods, and the entire collection can be read in a single semester. USING THE GLOSSARY One of the outstanding characteristics of these stories is their down-to-earth everyday household choice of words, making them especially well suited to vocabulary building. Occasional regionalisms and authorial idiosyncracies are easily identified and serve to make the narration more picturesque. The glossary at the end of the book has been compiled by folding a base vocabulary of around 1500 words into a text glossary, containing words that occur in the text but not in the base. As a general rule, full dictionary entries are given instead of abbreviated entries containing only the word-forms found in the text. For example, when the adverb zgodnie 'in concert, in agreement, in accordance with' occurs, it is cited under the entry for the adjective zgodny 'consensual'. In this way, the process of looking up words helps to develop a stronger vocabulary and a sense for word relationships. This reader was in part conceived as a text for a course in Polish-to-English literary translation. Accordingly, the glossary expects the user to be able to adapt the literal and standard meanings of words and word-combinations given in the glossary to the specific contexts in which words are used in these stories, in order to come up with the best idiomatic English translation. It is assumed that the reader will know how to form participles and verbal nouns from verbs. Accordingly, often a 6 INTRODUCTION participle in the text will be glossed by the verb from which it is arrived. For example, one should be able to derive domnki´ty 'shut, closed' from domknàç -n´ -niesz pf, impf domykaç 'close, shut (completely)'. Similarly, z∏amanie in the sense 'breaking' will not be glossed separately from ∏amaç -mi´ -miesz impf, pf z∏amaç 'break', although in the sense 'fracture' it would be. This said, the glossary is liberal in citing participles and verbal nouns alongside the verbs from which they are derived. When a participle is given a separate entry, it is simply designated as an aj, i.e. an adjective. In the glossary, although many cross-references are given, it is assumed that the user will know how to look up a prefixed perfective verb under the unprefixed imperfective. Additionally, the user should know how to recognize the comparative and superlative forms of adjectives and adverbs, for these are usually not listed separately. Occasional words and phrases considered to need commentary are bracketed and translated at the end of the book, in the section Uwagi. The reader interested in having a grammatical companion at hand when reading these stories is referred to the author's Polish Grammar in a Nutshell. MIROS¸AW ˚ULAWSKI Miros∏aw ˚u∏awski (1913-1995), probably known today more as the father of the French film director Andrzej ˚u∏awski, spanned, in his various activities as writer, diplomat, and publicist, most of the twentieth century. Educated in law and diplomacy in Lwów (Lviv) in today's Western Ukraine, the elder ˚u∏awski had his literary debut in 1934 in Lwów as a poet. 7 INTRODUCTION During the Second World War he was a member of the Home Army and was active in the underground resistance, especially its cultural aspect, and as a war correspondent. During the periods 1945-1952 and 1957-1978 ˚u∏awski held the positions of Polish delegate to UNESCO in Paris and of ambassador to Senegal and Mali. During 1952-1957 he was editor of Przeglàd Kulturalny (Cultural Review) in Warsaw. Among his literary works are the short-story collections Ostatnia Europa (The Last Europe) 1947, Psia gwiazda (Dog Star) 1965, OpowieÊci mojej ˝ony (Tales Told by My Wife) 1970, and the novel Rzeka czerwona (Red River) 1953. OpowieÊci mojej ˝ony was first published by Czytelnik publishers (Warsaw, 1970). This collection, and their suitability for use in the Polish language classroom, was brought to my attention by Jolanta ¸apot. I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to the author's son, French cinema director Andrzej ˚u∏awski, for making this collection available for pedagogical adaptation. 8 BILET _ZastanawialiÊmy si´ nad rolà nonsensu w ˝yciu cz∏owieka i wtedy moja ˝ona powiedzia∏a: - Nonsens wcale nie jest takim nonsensem, jakby si´ zdawa∏o. [JeÊli si´ bli˝ej przypatrzyç], to nonsens jest prawie zawsze nieuniknionym wynikiem dzia∏ania okolicznoÊci pe∏nych sensu i rezultatem ca∏kowicie uzasadnionym. ZaprotestowaliÊmy. Ka˝dy wie, ˝e nonsens to coÊ, co nie ma sensu. Moja ˝ona uÊmiechn´∏a si´ tylko. Tak uÊmiechajà si´ ludzie pe∏ni tajemnej wiedzy o rzeczach, o których inni nie majà poj´cia. Moja ˝ona zna si´ na zio∏ach, kwiatach, dzieciach i snach, co mnie zawsze troch´ przera˝a. - Pos∏uchajcie - powiedzia∏a. - Chc´ wam opowiedzieç zdarzenie, które wydarzy∏o si´ bardzo dawno, kiedy mnie jeszcze na Êwiecie nie by∏o, ale które [przez to] wcale nie jest nieprawdziwe. Pozwoli wam to zrozumieç g∏´boki sens nonsensu. Chcecie, ˝ebym je opowiedzia∏a? - Chcemy - powiedzieliÊmy chórem, bo i tak nie by∏o nic innego do zrobienia [tego deszczowego przedpo∏udnia]. Pada∏o ju˝ drugi dzieƒ i zapowiada∏o si´ na dobrà trzydniówk´, mieliÊmy wi´c przed sobà mas´ czasu do zabicia.

Load more