Why Are Polish Books So Good?
Polish books are world-class -- for two reasons.
First, because of the role literature has played in our history: when we lost our independence in 1795, we decided that preserving our language was our best hope of national survival. To write, publish, and distribute Polish books became a noble patriotic service.
And second, the occupying powers (Germans, Russians) blocked our access the kind of careers that usually attract greatest talent: politics, science, and business; with the result that our greatest talent... went into literature. Unlike most nations, for two hundred years, we gave our greatest brains to our books.
The effects of this still persist. To be a published author in Poland is to stand on a pedestal, to be regarded and listened to; and to read and discuss literature is the single coolest thing anyone can do to show off. So we read 4 times as much as the literary French (and twice as much as the folksy Brits and Americans); we translate and publish pretty much all of Western literature--from Vienna to Lima--pretty much as it happens; and as a result, our writers write a world-class product.
For fifty years, under Russian /Soviet rule, communist policies discouraged the promotion in the West of any cultural product which was not Russian. But in Eastern Europe, we dominate and our literature has more titles in print in translation across Eastern Europe than either Russian or German literature.
Long absence has made access to the Western literary market place difficult ("never heard of Polish literature, how can it be interesting?") but not without individual successes. Miłosz became a poetry Nobelist while living in California and publishing in Polish in Paris. Kapuściński and Lem have each become a classic, each in his genre, each still selling in English $40,000 worth of books every year twenty years after his death. But the truth is that these writers are the tip of the iceberg: there are lots and lots and lots of other truly great Polish books that deserve their place in the sun.
And it is my mission to make them available in English. And by doing so to serve these great books and their wonderful authors.
And to serve you, Anglo-Saxon reader.
