THE (UN)CONTROLLED PICTURE OF KARPOWICZ
The process of becoming acquainted with daily life of various authors evokes a number of doubts in me. First of them is connected with the feeling of awkwardness and embarrassment. Exploring artists' privacy has a lot in common with peeping, or even spying, which means acting without permission of the person under surveillance. It is most obvious in love letters which were originally intended only for lovers' eyes. While reading this kind of correspondence I question the honesty of my behaviour. I wonder which areas of artist's life should be open for a reader, and which of them should remain secret.
A different type of uncertainty turns out when we gain knowledge about dead artists. After all, they cannot defend themselves against the voice of living people. Those who remember them and decide to share their knowledge with the world must honestly consider whether an author would like others to know some details of his life. There is also a kind of jeopardy for a reader to look in the other side of artist's personality. What we learn can change not only the perception of an author himself but also the view of his works. Those mechanisms cannot be controlled to the extent that they might seem. For example, details of writers' everyday life tempt us to reach for them when we interpret their works. Whereas in my opinion, when we enter the area of biography we deal not with the author but, first of all, with the human. We learn about man's weakness and ridiculousness. Our reactions may be different: from delight, through puzzlement, up to anxiety, which undoubtedly affects the interpretation of particular work.
The private side of an artist's personality, namely Tymoteusz Karpowicz, is revealed by "Kresy" ("Borderlands" ) [4 (72) 2007]. Editors of the issue presented three interviews focused on the poet. What is also important is the person of Joanna Roszak, who is the protagonist of all the conversations, an enthusiast of his work and an expert in his biography. She influenced the manner of interviews held with respect and gentleness for Karpowicz – a poet and an exceptional man.
In the stories of poet's acquaintances worrying fragments appear. Experts in Karpowicz's work know 'hermeticism' that characterizes it. From Roszak's interviews we find out that a kind of isolation was typical for the poet's privacy as well. It may be said that some sad consistency lay in his personality – Karpowicz isolated himself consistently. First from Poland, then from the society of Poles in Chicago, and finally, from his relatives and intimates, of whom there were only a few at the end of his life. He became more and more absorbed in the world of books and eventually died in solitude.
Interviews published in "Kresy" show a good deal of tragic features in Karpowicz's portrait. Because of his isolation he was becoming less and less understood and therefore became forgotten. Bohdan Rubchak (the conversation entitled Dumny i słodki / Proud and Sweet) describes i.a. the way in which the poet was early pensioned off. Bożena Nowicka (Niekończący się projekt / Neverending Project) says about the damage that artist's beloved books underwent. Karpowicz took care of them during his work at university and even called them his children. At the end of his life he lacked strength even for them.
Previously I mentioned the division into private and artistic sphere which accompanies the interpretation of biographies of famous people. In Karpowicz's case it would be difficult to make this kind of division. According to his friends and students he himself was concerned with fulfilling literary or philosophical fascinations. The best example is the garden that he grew next to his house in Oak Park. Not without reason did he call it "the Leśmian's garden"1, "the garden of Mr. Błyszczyński"2. In the book entitled Mówi Karpowicz (Karpowicz says) we can find a detailed description of the adoration given to his plants. This garden, in spite of being carefully nursed by the poet, seemed to be wild and dissolute, which frightened artist's American neighbors. Karpowicz himself was particularly proud of raspberry bushes, created following the pattern of "raspberry thicket"3.
It is another example of consistency in Karpowicz's behavior. Probably most light on this issue is cast by words of Bożena Nowicka. In her statements she emphasizes a great sense of responsibility, which characterizes the poet – it is a specific kind of responsibility for a word. Karpowicz "fulfilled things which he declared himself". Surely we deal here with the element of self–creation. Nowicka calls Karpowicz a mythomane who carries out the myth of Norwid (by the way, the poet was fascinated by the person of Norwid – in both private and artistic sphere). It was manifested i.a. by putting permanent stress on writing only for himself "to drawer". This was the cause of mentioned hermeticism of Karpowicz's poetry.
However, I would like to come back to the feeling of embarrassment. In case of Roszak's interviews this feeling is being awaken by the recollection of his relationship with his wife Maryla or poet's living standard after his wife's death. There is, for instance, a vivid contrast between artist's remarkable erudition and his exterior (also physical) degradation, a death in solitude. This confrontation might hurt everyone who wants to remember Karpowicz especially as a great poet and a master of metaphor. That is why I doubt in the value of that kind of information. It is still too early to present it.
All interviews mentioned above strike a reader with great sadness. They all speak about poet's death and chaos surrounding him. Yet, I would like to draw attention to more cheerful aspects of his biography. Because, as Bohdan Rubchak stated, Karpowicz had also the ability to be sweet. If wanted, he could easily gain friends. An example of his charming abilities would be giving flowers to all women at university once a year. However he was admired mainly as an artist, philosopher and teacher. Students who managed to participate in his lectures had the chance to meet his extraordinary mind and sensibility. Such a Karpowicz is seen in his poems which (to agree with Bogdan Loebl from the interview entitled We wszystkim chciał być niezależny / In everything he wanted to be independent) are waiting for next generations of poetry explorers.
Marta Chmielewska
Translated by Klaudia Makowska
Discussed journals: Kresy