Aleksander wat

Agnieszka Jezyk (University of California, Los Angeles)

Ed. by Roman Koropeckyj, University of California, Los Angeles
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.8.3: Polish Writing and Culture.
Vol. editors: Roman Koropeckyj (University of California, Los Angeles), Ewa M. Thompson (Rice University)

Dates

Born 1 May 1900
Died 29 Jul 1967

Places

Born in Poland
Active in Poland; France; Ukraine; United States

Cultural Identities

Jewish

Activities

Primary

Poet
Prose writer

Other

Translator

Resources

Wat's Works

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“I always felt myself a Jew-Jew and a Pole-Pole. […] I have always been proud […] that I am a Pole, that I am a Jew. And simultaneously driven to despair that I am a Pole that I am a Jew. What a lot of bad luck!” (Venclova, 15) Aleksander Wat confessed once. A poet, prose writer and editor, co-founder of Polish futurism, a translator, a mystic, a husband, an expat, he was one of the most important literary figures in interwar Poland. In his struggle with multiple identities, he shared the fate of many Eastern European intellectuals influenced by an age of shifting borders, growing nationalisms, and military conflicts.

Born in 1900 as Aleksander Chwat to a family of long-held rabbinic and Kabbalistic traditions, Wat was also exposed to Catholicism through the influence of his Polish

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2219 words

Citation: Jezyk, Agnieszka. "Aleksander wat". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 11 March 2019 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=14030, accessed 23 November 2024.]