A Friend: Jerzy Timoszewicz (1933–2015)

Janusz Degler

Abstract

Jerzy Timoszewicz, a historian of literature and theatre, and an editor, was born on 9 September 1933 in Warsaw. He received a magisterium degree in Polish philology from the University of Warsaw in 1956. The diploma essay on Dziady [Forefathers’ Eve] as staged by Leon Schiller, which he wrote under the tutelage of Professor Jan Kott, was awarded the third prize in the Mickiewicz Competition organised by the Ministry of Higher Education. While studying at the University, Timoszewicz was a member of the Young Critics Circle run by Edward Csató and made his press debut with a review of Słowacki’s Balladyna (Sztandar Młodych, no. 26, 1954). From October 1957 to September 1992, he was a member of the Pamiętnik Teatralny Editorial Board. He edited several monographic issues of the journal, devoted to Andrzej Pronaszko, Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz, the Vilnius theatre, and the Jewish Theatre in Poland. In November 1965, Timoszewicz defended his doctoral dissertation, „Dziady” w inscenizacji Leona Schillera: Partytura i jej wykonanie [Dziady as Staged by Leon Schiller: The Score and Its Execution] (Warszawa, 1970) whereby he undertook a task without precedent: he reconstructed the stage shape of four productions of Dziady by Schiller and the director’s score of the Warsaw production of 1934. The four volumes of Leon Schiller’s Pisma [Papers] that Timoszewicz edited are a paragon of editing (each is provided with a chronicle of Schiller’s life and work) and the finest piece of Timoszewicz’s editorial work. He also published a volume of recollections about Schiller, Ostatni romantyk sceny Polskiej [The Last Romantic of the Polish Stage] (1990) and Leon Schiller’s version of Historyja o Męce Najświętszej i Chwalebnym Zmartwychwstaniu Pańskim [The History of the Most Holy Passion and Glorious Resurrection of Our Lord]. Another hero whom Timoszewicz was fascinated with from a young age was “the prince of Polish essayists,” Jerzy Stempowski. Of Stempowski’s oeuvre, Timoszewicz published a two-volume selection of Szkice literackie [Literary Sketches] (1988; 2nd edn 2001), a collection of Stempowski’s radio editorials, Felietony dla Radia Wolna Europa [Editorials for Radio Free Europe] (1995), and Pamiętnik teatralny trzeciej klasy i inne szkice [A Theatre Memoir of the Third Class and Other Sketches] (1999); he also edited a volume of reminiscences „Pan Jerzy”. Śladami nieśpiesznego przechodnia: Wspomnienia i szkice o Jerzym Stempowskim [“Pan Jerzy.” Following the Footsteps of the Unhurried Ambler: Reminiscences and Sketches About Jerzy Stempowski] (2005). Other editorial works by Timoszewicz include an edition of theatre reviews by Edward Csató (1979), a collections of texts about Polish theatre by Zbigniew Raszewski, Spacerek po labiryncie [A Walk in a Maze] (2008), a volume of reminiscences, articles and letters by Zbigniew Pronaszko, Zapiski scenografa [Notes of a Stage Designer] (1976), and a selection of articles, Rzeczy teatralne [Things Theatrical] (1984), by the émigré critic Tymon Terlecki, with whom Timoszewicz exchanged letters for over thirty years. A large selection of their correspondence, which has just been published, shows that Jerzy Timoszewicz was a prolific and accomplished letter writer. His addressees included renowned scholars and artists; Timoszewicz donated a huge collection of their letters to the Ossolineum. The reviews of books on theatre that Timoszewicz published in Teatr, Dialog and Rocznik Literacki for many years are a valuable source of information about the history of Polish theatre studies and the circulation of publications on the subject. Timoszewicz knew theatrical literature through and through, as can be attested by the column Świstek Teatralny [Theatrical Paper Slip] he prepared for Teatr in 1960–1961, where he published various fragments and quotes from old magazines, diaries, letters, interviews, reviews, lexicons, and other historical documents. His students at the Theatre Studies Department of the Academy of Dramatic Arts in Warsaw, where he lectured in 1975–1979, collected all the texts that appeared in the Świstek Teatralny column, printed it in one volume and gave it to Timoszewicz on his eightieth birthday on 13 September 2013.