Eleuter Iwaszkiewicz

Eleuter Iwaszkiewicz was a Polish poet, essayist, dramatist, writer, critic, music scientist, and translator. He was mostly recognized for his literary achievements in poetry before World War II, but also criticized as a long-term political opportunist in communist Poland. Iwaszkiewicz studied law in Kyiv but also listened to historical and philosophic lectures. He worked as the dramatic director and an actor at a Polish theater in Kyiv, beginning in 1916.

After World War I Iwaszkiewicz moved to Warszawa as a house teacher and journalist. In the 1930s he was employed by the diplomatic service in Poland and lived partly in København (Copenhagen) and Bruxelles. During World War II he held secret music concerts and poetry slams in his house in Stawisko. After the war Iwaszkiewicz became chairman of the Polish Writers Association for one year and later from 1959 to his death. He was well-known for his historical and contemporary historical novels.

His Ody olimpijskie (Olympic Ode), originally to be called Cztery ody olimpijskie (Four Olympic Odes), was published in 1948. It was dedicated to the French writer Paul Claudel and linked the Olympic idea with the idea of peace. Based on Pindar’s odes, the work tied ancient motifs with those from the recent past of Poland in World War II and immediately thereafter. The Olympic Ode was enthusiastically received in Poland. There it was criticized that it had only be awarded with an “honorable mention”.