Calendar of Cultural Events

Please verify dates and times with The Kosciuszko Foundation Director of Cultural Affairs
Tom Pniewski -- (212) 734-2130 ext. 214

An Evening of Poetry and Music
Thursday, November 30 at 7 PM
Honoring Jan Lechon, Poet, and Karol Szymanowski, Composer. To Commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the Great Poet’s Death.

This “salon” will feature readings of Lechon’s poetry in Polish and English, and performances of music by Szymanowski, Lechon’s friend. There will be an introduction by Beata Dorosz, Institute of Literary Research, Polish Academy of Sciences. Tickets are $10, and include a reception following. As space is limited, reservations are requested, and can be made by calling the Foundation Office at 212.734-2130.

Jan Lechon (1899-1956) was one of Poland’s most interesting and gifted poets of the twentieth century; some experts even claim that he would have become a third Nobel laureate, ranking with Czeslaw Milosz and Wyslawa Szymborska.
Already publishing poetry at the age of 13, Lechon (whose real name was Laszek Józef Serafimowicz) entered the University of Warsaw at 16 to study philology, and during his student days completed two collections of poetry and a one-act play that was performed by some of Warsaw's leading actors.

As a result, he was invited into Warsaw’s cultural aristocracy. But he was emotionally unstable, and a nervous breakdown and attempted suicide clouded his youth. In 1930, he left Warsaw and attached himself to the Polish Embassy in Paris, where he served as an unofficial cultural attache.
In 1939, with the outbreak of war, he fled Paris, moving through Portugal and South America. He finally settled in New York in 1941, and remained here the rest of his life. During World War II, he contributed to the propaganda efforts of the Polish Government-in-Exile.

At the suggestion of a psychiatrist, Lechon began keeping a diary (Dziennik, 1949-56), containing some of his most fascinating writing. He documented his own inner life, but also included perceptive observations on world events, Polonia in the United States, and life in New York City. He was, however, obsessed by feelings of futility as an emigre here, and was unable to write poetry. Finally, he jumped to his death on June 8, 1956 from a Manhattan hotel window.

The Unfashionable Poet

They say:”Nothing can bring back the time that has gone,
Soon even its memory in young minds fades with age,
Take away those old tricks you have used and have done –
By and by there will be a new play on the stage.

What can I do? Get drunk with the ambrosia flask,
Left over from the roaring banquets of my youth.
Exit: with rose in hand and the moon in my cask -
The rest I leave to young poets; let them do it.

- Translated by Agnieszka Maria Gernand.

For additional information, please call the Kosciuszko Foundation Office at 212.734-2130.

All events take place at the Foundation House, unless otherwise noted. Programs subject to change. Click here for directions.

Kosciuszko Foundation programs are supported by the The Anne Felicya Cierpik Fund, the Mary Koons Charitable Trust, and the Kosciuszko Foundation Cultural Fund. 

The Kosciuszko Foundation invites you to join the many foundations and individuals who support its programs.  If you can join them, please call Tom Pniewski, Cultural Affairs, at 212.734-2130, x. 214.

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Karol Szymanowski and Jan Lechon