Mrożek, Sławomir

▪ Polish writer

born June 29, 1930, Borzęcin, Poland

 

 Polish playwright and satirist noted for his subtle parody and stylized language.

      The son of a postman, Mrożek entered journalism as a cartoonist and an author of short humorous articles filled with wordplay and grotesque situations. During the 1950s and '60s he became a prominent figure in Polish literature by virtue of his plays in the style of the Theatre of the Absurd (Absurd, Theatre of the); through these he evaded the rigours of communist censorship. He left Poland in 1964 and went to Paris, eventually becoming a French citizen. Mrożek moved to Mexico in 1989 and lived there until 1996, when he returned to Poland.

      Six of Mrożek's plays—Policja (1958; “Police”), Męczeństwo Piotra Oheya (1959; “The Martyrdom of Peter Ohey”), Na pełnym morzu (1961; “Out at Sea”), Karol (1962; “Charlie”), Zabawa (1963; “The Party”), and Czarowna noc (1963; “Enchanted Night”)—were translated into English by Nicholas Bethell in Six Plays by Sławomir Mrożek (1967). The most successful of Mrożek's plays, produced in many Western countries, is Tango (1964; appears in English translation in both Nine Plays of the Modern Theater and Striptease; Tango; Vatzlav: Three Plays). His later plays include Wacław (1970; Vatzlav: A Play in 77 Scenes), Emigranci (1974; The Emigrants), Amor (1979; “Cupid”), and Ambasador (1984; The Ambassador).

      As one of the leading satirical writers of the last half of the 20th century, Mrożek exposed many of the nonsensical events of modern times. Bordering on the absurd with its combination of humour, wit, and the grotesque, his work transgressed political and economic systems, revealing both their universality and their sillier aspects.

Additional Reading

Martin Esslin, The Theatre of the Absurd, 3rd ed., rev. and enlarged ed. (1980, reissued 1991).

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