The Sarmatian Review
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THE SARMATIAN REVIEW Vol. XVIII, no. 1 January 1998 The Range of Central European Literatures Polish Yiddish German Poetry Short Story Children’s Warsaw in the eighteenth century. 498 THE SARMATIAN REVIEW January 1998 The Sarmatian Review (ISSN 1059- “The March Breezes, ” a 5872) is a triannual publication of the Polish In- From the Editor powerful Hemingwayesque story by the stitute of Houston. The journal deals with Polish, In order to be noticed in German writer Marie Luise Kaschnitz, Central, and Eastern European affairs, and their American society, a common-interest was ably translated by Professor Hal implications for the United States. We specialize group (we prefer this designation to the in the translation of documents. Rennert. It deals with what is still Subscription price is $12.00 per year for individu- ideologized ‘minority’) has to be insufficiently known and understood in als, $18.00 for institutions and libraries ($18.00 described in a language that incorporates German society: Nazi behavior toward for individuals, $24.00 for libraries overseas, air the idiom of the day and remains both Polish peasants and Polish mail). The views expressed by authors of articles comprehensible to the group in question. do not necessarily represent those of the Editors intellectuals in World War II. or of the Polish Institute. Articles are subject to The Irish have described themselves Among the crop of excellent editing. Unsolicited manuscripts are not returned abundantly, the central and eastern reviews, we would like to single out unless accompanied by a self-addressed and Europeans less so. The writers John Mark Wegierski’s comments on the stamped envelope. Please submit your contribu- Merchant has so aptly selected reveal tion on a Macintosh disk together with a printout. reminiscences of a Canadian Polish Letters to the Editor can be e-mailed to some of the secrets of Polish American doctoral student about the fate of her <[email protected]>, with an accompanying and other central and eastern European peasant ancestors in Canada and in their printout sent by snail mail. Articles, letters, and neighborhoods. There are more secrets native Ukraine (yes Virginia, in Europe subscription checks should be send to to be revealed. The invisibility of central nationality transcends borders). The Sarmatian Review, P.O. Box 79119, and eastern European ethnics in Houston, Texas 77279-9119. Wegierski rightly emphasizes the The Sarmatian Review retains the copyright for all American society results partly from the massive hardships which eastern materials included in print and online issues. Cop- scarcity of writers who would give these European nationals underwent, as their ies for personal or educational use are permitted groups a literary voice. It also stems from homesteads were repeatedly destroyed by by section 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law. the reluctance of the ethnics to adopt invaders from east and west. Somehow Permission to redistribute, republish, or use SR materials in advertising or promotion must be sub- Nietzschean and Hegelian ways, as these tragedies have been shelved by mitted in writing to the Editor. expressed in Maya Angelou’s famous ‘I America’s intellectuals as unimportant, Editor: Ewa M.Thompson (Rice University). rise from my poverty and shame,/ I rise while lesser tragedies became Editorial Advisory Committee: Janusz A. to take my rightful place.’ If the ethnics paradigmatic. Ihnatowicz (University of Saint Thomas), Marek Kimmel (Rice University), Alex Kurczaba (Uni- ever rise, they will find a different way Last but not least, we are happy versity of Illinois), Witold J. Lukaszewski (Sam of asserting themselves, a way more to publish Professor David Malcolm’s Houston State University), Michael J. Mikos (Uni- congenial to their cultural characteristics. translation of one of our favorite versity of Wisconsin), Waclaw Mucha (Rice Uni- Related to this issue is Professor childhood poems, “Cat Was Sick,” by an versity), Pamela Pavliscak (Rice University), James R. Thompson (Rice University), Andrzej Joseph Kotarba’s observation, in his early nineteenth-century Polish children’s WaÊko (Jagiellonian University). excellent review of Adam Zamoyski’s writer, Stanisław Jachowicz. Web Pages: Pamela Pavliscak. book, that by comparison to their One of our subscribers, Richard Web Address: <http://www.ruf.rice.edu/ neighbors, Poles lack aggressiveness and C. Prusinski, recently wrote us the ~sarmatia>. Sarmatian Review Council: Marla K. Burns (Burns militancy. Kotarba also perceptively following: “How dare you charge so little & Associates), Boguslaw Godlewski (Diagnostic observes that Poles often do not own the for such a great publication!” He dared Clinic of Houston), Iga J. Henderson, Danuta Z. ‘means of production’ which profit from us to tell you about the necessity of raising Hutchins (Buena Vista University), Joseph A. their labor. In the United States, subscription prices. If it were not for the Jachimczyk (J.A. Jachimczyk Forensic Center of Harris County, Texas), Leonard M. Krazynski professionals of central and eastern generosity of some of our subscribers (Krazynski & Associates), Martin Lawera (Rice European background tend to be doctors, who, in addition to the subscription price, University), Witold P. Skrypczak. teachers, engineers etc., but not also send us donations, we would have In this issue: entrepreneurs, bankers, or corporate been unable to carry our enterprise From the Editor...................................498 board members. forward. Even with higher subsciption SR INDEX...........................................499 The Sarmatian Review is prices we will be far away from breaking John Merchant, Recent Polish Fiction..501 pleased to present Aleksandra even. Prices have to rise in April 1998 Aleksandra Ziołkowska-Boehm interviews Ziołkowska-Boehm’s interview with to $15.00 for individual subscribers and Isaac Bashevis Singer.............................509 Isaac Bashevis Singer, a text never before $21.00 for libraries and institutions Marie Luise Kaschnitz, “March Breezes” published in English (beating our own (overseas prices will rise accordingly). (translated by Hal H. Rennert)...........511 drum, we would like to note that virtually THOSE WHO RENEW THEIR BOOKS.........................................................515 every issue of SR contains materials that SUBSCRIPTIONS BEFORE APRIL Andrzej Nowak, Europe: A History.517 cannot be found elsewhere — a principal 1998 WILL NOT BE AFFECTED, but Mark Wegierski, Marynia Don’t Cry....519 reason why SR continues to gain new susbcriptions and renewals after that Joseph Kotarba, The Forgotten Few: subscribers!). A seasoned and prolific date will. We are also cutting down on The Polish Air Force ..............................521 writer herself, Ziołkowska-Boehm has the number of complimentary copies we Angela Brintlinger, F.M. Dostoevskii....522 interviewed dozens of famous and not- distribute. Incidentally, if you haven’t About the Authors..................................523 so-famous persons in Canada, Poland and noticed, the current issue is four pages Stanislaw Jachowicz, “Cat Was Sick” the United States. longer than the previous one. Δ (translated by David Malcolm)............524 January 1998 THE SARMATIAN REVIEW 499 Sarmatian Review Index Health Percentage decline in death from cardiovascular disease in Poland between 1992-97: 15 percent to 20 percent. Source: Public health advocate Dr. Witold Zatoƒski, as reported by Kitty McKinsey in RFE/RL Daily Report, 2 July 1997. Quality of St. Petersburg's drinking water supply: 500 times the acceptable levels of fenolam, 260 times the accept- able levels of chloroform, 700 times the acceptable levels of micro-organisms, from double to triple the maximum world standard levels of salts and heavy metals, and 200 times the acceptable levels of bacteria that cause dysentery. One in every 20 test-tubes extracted from St. Petersburg's drinking water supply contained hepatitis A. Source: Moscow newspaper Kommersant Daily, as reported by Brian Whitmore in RFE/RL, 1 July 1997. Number of drug addicts in Russia: 300,000. Number of drug users in Russia: 2 million. Source: Interior Ministry officials, as reported by Reuter (Moscow), 22 July 1997. Education Number of Spring 1997 applicants to Polish state colleges and universities: 293,000. Number of openings in Polish state colleges and universities in Fall 1997: 213,000. Percentage of 19-year-olds who attend colleges and universities in Fall 1997: 25 percent (100 percent increase over 1990). Source: Michał Jankowski in Donosy, 2 July and 2 October 1997. Note: figures for private colleges and universities are not available. It is estimated that the high-tuition private colleges have an additional 100,000 openings for freshmen. Demography Life expectancy in Poland in 1997: 68 years for men and 76.5 years for women. Source: Donosy, 26 August 1997. Suicide rate increase between August 1-18, 1997, in regions affected by catastrophic floods in Poland in July 1997: 46 percent (by comparison to 1996). Source: Gazeta Wyborcza, 27 August 1997. Percentage of American Jews who are of Eastern European origin: 95 percent. Source: Elisabeth Farnsworth in MacNeil-Lehrer Report, 26 August 1997. Percentage of Jews in the U.S. population: 2 percent. Source: Michael Medved, “The Jewish Question,” National Review, 28 July 1997. Percentage of Jews in the pre-World War II Polish population: 10.1 percent, or 3.3 million. Percentage of Jews in the Polish state in the second