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"Gustaw Herling and his world" is the title of a book published in Italy and devoted to the Polish writer, author of Inny świat (“A World Apart”). This volume was presented last week at the Polish Institute in Rome. The writer lived in Naples for 45 years until his death in 2000. The volume is a summary of the literary festival devoted to the life and works of Gustaw Herling-Grudziński held in the city in 2019.
"Herling's Naples" was the title of a major festival organised three years ago in the city under Vesuvius by the Polish Institute to mark the centenary of the writer's birth. The three-day meeting and debates, attended by experts, and researchers of his work both from Poland and Italy, publicists, artists and representatives of the Naples authorities led by the then Mayor Luigi de Magistris, was the largest event in Italy dedicated to Herling-Grudziński.
An extraordinary guest at the festival at the time was one of Italy's best-known actors, Toni Servillo, who read the writer's short story Podzwonne dla dzwonnika ("The Bell-Ringer’s Toll") in Santa Chiara Basilica.
The book, which was presented last week, was edited by the Polish language scholar and translator Andrea F. De Carlo of the University of Naples and the Polish writer's daughter Marta Herling - Secretary General of the Italian Institute of Historical Studies. They were both present at the meeting in Rome. Adrianna Siennicka, the director of the Polish Institute, also attended the event, as did her predecessor Łukasz Paprotny, who headed the Polish Institute when the Herling-Grudziński Festival took place.
It has been emphasised that the volume will allow Italian readers to get to know the works of the writer-prisoner of Soviet gulags and soldier of the Anders’ Army, who fought for freedom in times of totalitarianism.
The publication is also a reminder of the fact that 75 years ago, Gustaw Herling-Grudziński founded the Kultura magazine together with Jerzy Giedroyc. Its first issue was published in Rome on 20 June 1947.
source: Polish Press Agency (PAP), Sylwia Wysocka