Parandowski, Jan

Born May 11, 1895, in L’vov. Polish writer and cultural historian. President of the Polish PEN Centre since 1933.

Parandowski, who graduated from the University of L’vov in 1923, became a professor at the Catholic University of Lublin in 1945. He published his first work in 1913 and subsequently wrote a series of books and essays on classical culture and art, including Mythology (1924), Eros on Olympus (1924), and Olympic Discus (1933). The Alchemy of the Word, reflections on the psychology of creativity, was published in 1951 (Russian translation, 1972). The Sky in Flames (1935–36; Russian translation, 1969), a novel about a young man’s moral maturation and his disenchantment with religion, became well known. Parandowski is also the author of Petrarch (1954–55), a biographical novel; Return to Life (1961), a novella about the Nazi occupation of Poland; and The Acacia (1967), a collection of short stories. Other works include Literary Travels (1958), Remembrances and Silhouettes (1960), and a prose translation of Homer’s Odyssey (1953).

Parandowski received the State Prize of the Polish People’s Republic in 1964.