Spiritual portraits of the authors of the Parisian “Kultura” | meeting with Łukasz Marcińczak

About

What did Czesław Miłosz, Witold Gombrowicz, Józef Czapski and Gustaw Herling-Grudziński have in common apart from belonging to the Parisian “Kultura” circle? Łukasz Marcińczak examined their work and biographies through the lens of spiritual and existential quests. The author will talk about his book “Odyseusze z Maisons-Laffitte. Duchowe portrety autorów »Kultury« paryskiej” on September 27 during the Lublin Book Fair.

The book is a collection of 10 literary essays devoted to authors associated with the Parisian “Kultura”. Its subjects include poets Czesław Miłosz and Wacław Iwaniuk, essayists Jeleński and Stempowski, diarists Czapski and Herling-Grudziński, playwright Gombrowicz, novelist Czarnyszewicz, and Andrzej Bobkowski, author of the celebrated “Szkice piórkiem”. They are all united by a common idea – that of a journal serving as the intellectual centre of Polish emigration in the second half of the 20th century – and all proved to be outstanding figures in the history of 20th-century Polish literature.

This publication deepens our understanding of the phenomenon of the “Kultura” circle by presenting portraits of its principal figures in their spiritual dimension – not only in relation to fundamental issues of collective life, but above all by exploring the individual existential and, often, metaphysical quests of each of them. The search for a personal meaning in life opens up a new perspective on how we perceive the works and attitudes of people who continue to shape our present.

The meeting will be hosted by Maciej Wodziński.

The book “Odyseusze z Maisons-Laffitte. Duchowe portrety autorów »Kultury« paryskiej” was published by Wydawnictwo Warsztaty Kultury. It can be purchased for 35 zł on the publisher’s website.

Details

When: September 27, 2026 (Sunday), 13:00
Where: Targi Lublin, Dworcowa 11, Pavilion Stage
Admission: tickets required, more information on the Lubelskie Targi Książki website

Participants

Łukasz Marcińczak – born in 1971 in Łódź. A graduate of philosophy at Maria Curie-Skłodowska University, he holds a PhD in philosophy and edited “AS UMCS”, the journal of the UMCS Alumni Association. Since 2006, he has been a regular contributor to “Akcent”, where he publishes essays, reviews and studies on writers associated with the Parisian “Kultura” as well as on the multicultural past of Lublin and the Lublin region. He has also published in “Colloquia Communia”, “Gazeta Wyborcza” and “Magyar Napló” (Budapest). He is the author of the poetry collection “Profil odciśnięty w glinie” (2002) and the collections of losological inquiries “Świat trzeba przekręcić. Rozmowy o imponderabiliach” (2013) and “Świat trzeba dokończyć. Rozmowy o imponderabiliach” (2017); he also co-edited the books “Andrzeja Klimowicza portret wielokrotny” (2013) and “Homo sentiens – człowiek czujący. Księga Przyjaciół Jadwigi Mizińskiej” (2013). He collected his most important essays in the volume “Kamienie pachnące szafranem” (Lublin 2016). He has been awarded the Medal of the President of the City of Lublin (2010), the Medal of the Union of Lublin (2017), the title of Bene Meritus Terrae Lublinensi (2017), and the Medal of the 700th Anniversary of the City of Lublin (2018).

Maciej Wodziński – holds a PhD in philosophy from Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin, a retired marcher, a self-taught carpenter, and genetically predisposed to philosophizing, with a predilection for spending his life renovating old rural cottages and putting into practice the motto “build, dwell, think”. His academic interests focus on the philosophy of psychiatry and mental well-being in the broader sense; he is a recipient of the Diamond Grant in the humanities. In love with Greece. He still, although somewhat clumsily, tries to enter into dialogue with the thought of its great departed thinkers, seeking in these conversations a “way back” to their long-forgotten way of experiencing the world.

About the Publisher

Wydawnictwo Warsztaty Kultury, run by the municipal institution Workshops of Culture in Lublin, is a small, niche publishing house focused on the literature and culture of Central and Eastern European countries. Its publishing activity centres mainly on the “Wschodni Express” series. The series primarily features prose and essays spanning a wide range of genres, as well as poetry. Its authors include some of the most distinguished writers from Ukraine, Belarus, Latvia and Lithuania. The publishing house also takes pride in its collaboration with Bohdan Zadura, one of Poland’s foremost translators of Ukrainian prose and poetry. Among its achievements is the “Angelus” award, granted in 2022 for the translation from Hungarian of Zoltán Mihály Nagy’s book “Szatański pomiot”. The translation was made by Daniel Warmuz. Another significant achievement for Workshops of Culture was “Punkt zerowy” by Artem Czech reaching the shortlist for the Ryszard Kapuściński Award in 2020.

All books published by Workshops of Culture in Lublin can be found on the publisher’s website.