Jan Sztaudynger

Jan Sztaudynger

Jan Izydor Sztaudynger (Kraków, 28 April 1904 – 12 September 1970, Kraków) was a Polish poet and satirist who enjoyed enormous popularity after World War II.

Life

Jan Sztaudynger studied Polish and German philology at Kraków's Jagiellonian University.

He is known for his epigrams, which in Poland are called fraszki (singular: fraszka). Sztaudynger called some of his epigrams piórka (singular: piórko).

In 1964 Sztaudynger published a poetry collection, Tranzytem przez Łódź (Transit through Łódź), in which he expressed nostalgia for that city's Fraszka cafe.

Sample fraszki

"Głos w telefonie"
Halo - tu sumienie.
Czy pan zamówił budzenie?'

"A voice on the phone"
Hello, this is your conscience.
Did you order a wake-up call?

"Nie lubię"
Nie lubię siebie sam
za dobrze siebie znam

"Don't like"
I don't like myself
I know myself too well

"Może zaszczytnie"
Łamią cie? Może zaszczytnie
Bez wtedy łamią, kiedy kwitnie

"Loud"
They shout very loud
Maybe they mean to applaud

”Skarga zmiętego”
Życie mnie
Mnie

See also

• Stanisław Jerzy Lec — contemporary writer of aphorisms

References

• Poet's Corner (1998): Jan Sztaudynger
• The City of Lodz Office: Jan Izydor Sztaudynger

External links

• Fraszki collection
• Photographs of Jan Sztaudynger