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Inspiring diaries
Julia Hartwig Poet
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Another person with whom I worked – this wasn't at the same desk we just sent one another texts – was Joanna Gruze and together we translated Delacroix's Diaries. I have to say this is one of the books I love the best and I go back to it because it gives such peace of mind and a sense of certainty that if you're an artist you need to do what you want and not worry about other people liking what you're doing. And he has a certain elegance about him. There are two intimate documents that I have a deep appreciation of and to which I occasionally return and they are Delacroix's Diaries and the letters of Chopin. I think Chopin's letters are something quite fantastic, they are so beautiful and... they really broaden our view of Chopin because we have an image of this elegant fop in those salons whereas we need to remember that he was someone who could even resort to using a coarse word when it was called for – like those people who know that something needs to be done with tact – and who very clearly emphasised his feelings for his family, who, well, there's no mention about his love life but in any case, yes. I wanted to add this to this chapter.

No tak, druga... druga osoba, z którą ja współpracowałam – ale to nie... ani przy biurku, tylko po prostu przesyłając sobie teksty – to była pani Joanna Guze z którą przetłumaczyłyśmy razem Dzienniki Delacroix. To muszę powiedzieć, że jest książka moja jedna ukochanych i wracam do niej, bo ona daje taki spokój ducha i taką... takie poczucie pewności, że... że jeżeli jest się artystą to trzeba robić to, co się chce, a nie patrzeć na to, jak ci się podoba czy nie. I taka pewna dystynkcja go cechuje. Mam takie dwa ulubione intymne... intymne dokumenty, które ogromnie cenię i do których czasem wracam – to są właśnie Dzienniki Delacroix i listy Szopena. Uważam, że te listy Szopena są czymś zupełnie fantastycznym – są tak piękne i... tak naprawdę rozszerzają widzenie Szopena, bo tam widzimy jakiegoś elegancika w... w tych... w tych salonach, a tymczasem trzeba... pamiętać, że to był człowiek, który nawet potrafił użyć grubego słowa i ono było zawsze na miejscu – tak jak ludzie, którzy wiedzą, że coś zrobić trzeba z taktem – i który bardzo wyraziście i czule podkreślał swoje... swoje uczucia dla rodziny, który, no tu już o... o jego miłościach raczej nie ma mowy, ale... ale w każdym razie tak. To, no to właśnie ja chciałam to dodać do tego rozdziału.

Born to a Polish father and a Russian mother, Julia Hartwig (1921-2017) was a Polish poet, essayist, translator and author of children's books. She studied at the University of Warsaw, the Catholic University in Lublin and the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. Czesław Miłosz called her 'the grande dame of Polish poetry'. Julia Hartwig was one of the few poets in Poland who made masterly use of poetic prose. She translated poems by Apollinaire, Rimbaud, Max Jacob, Cendrars and Supervielle, and published monographs on Apollinaire and Gerard de Nerval. She also translated from English, and published a large anthology of American poetry which she co-edited in 1992 with her late husband, the poet Artur Międzyrzecki.

Listeners: Andrzej Wolski

Film director and documentary maker, Andrzej Wolski has made around 40 films since 1982 for French television, the BBC, TVP and other TV networks. He specializes in portraits and in historical films. Films that he has directed or written the screenplay for include Kultura, which he co-directed with Agnieszka Holland, and KOR which presents the history of the Worker’s Defence Committee as told by its members. Andrzej Wolski has received many awards for his work, including the UNESCO Grand Prix at the Festival du Film d’Art.

Tags: Diaries, Joanna Gruze, Eugène Delacroix, Frédéric Chopin, Fryderyk Chopin

Duration: 1 minute, 28 seconds

Date story recorded: June 2010

Date story went live: 10 October 2011