GRONCZEWSKI Andrzej

Born on 3 October 1940 in Warsaw; son of the lawyer Józef Gronczewski and the pharmacist Zofia, née Kępińska. In 1945, he and his family moved to Inowroclaw where he completed primary education in 1954 and then attended the Jan Kasprowicz Grammar School. The following year he returned to Warsaw and continued his education at the King Władysław IV Grammar School, completing advanced secondary education in 1958. He then took a degree in Polish philology at the University of Warsaw (UW). He made his debut as a prose writer in 1960 with the short story Laboratorium that was published in "Współczesność" (no. 22). The following year, he published his first book review, Bez retuszu (No Retouches), a discussion of Grzegorz Timofiejew's book Człowiek jest nagi (Man is Naked), in "Nowa Kultura" (no. 3). After graduating with a master's degree in 1963, he was appointed assistant (and then senior assistant) at the University of Warsaw's Faculty of Polish Philology. His research focused on twentieth-century Polish literature, in particular its links to other European literatures, music and the visual arts. In 1963 he also started collaborating with Polish Radio where he produced a total of 400 programmes, including series focused on literary criticism, such as Tysiąc znaczeń w jednym wierszu (A Thousand Meanings in a Single Poem; 1970-75), as well as shows exploring the works of Polish and foreign writers. His essays, articles, literary sketches and reviews appeared in periodicals including "Współczesność" (1963, and 1965-66), "Kultura" (1966-72), "Ruch Literacki" (1967), "Nowe Książki" (1967-68), "Miesięcznik Literacki" (1967, and 1985-89, including the cycle Poezja i życie praktyczne [Poetry and a practical life]), "Polonistyka" (1967), "Tygodnik Kulturalny" (1967), "Życie Literackie" (1968), "Poezja" (1968-72 and 1977-83), and "Literatura" (1980). From 1970 he spent fifteen years as editor of the literary history section of the journal "Przegląd Humanistyczny". In 1972, he defended his doctoral thesis, Sztuka, jej funkcje i wartości w pisarstwie Jarosława Iwaszkiewicza (The Functions and Value of Art in the works of Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz), which was supervised by Prof. Jan Zygmunt Jakubowski. Gronczewski was then appointed lecturer at the Institute of Polish Literature (ILP) at UW. The same year, he married the Polish studies scholar and radio journalist Grażyna Janikowska. He and his wife spent the next four years in Frankfurt (Main), West Germany, where he worked as a lecturer in Polish literature and Polish language tutor at the city's Goethe University. During this period, he went on numerous trips around Germany and abroad, visiting the UK, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Spain, Austria, Sweden and Denmark, while in later years he mainly visited Italy and Greece. After returning to UW, he served as academic tutor to the Polish studies society (Warszawskie Koło Polonistów). He became a member of the Polish Writers' Union (ZLP) in 1976 and the Society of Friends of Harenda and the Work of Jan Kasprowicz (Stowarzyszenie Przyjaciół Harendy i Twórczości Jana Kasprowicza) in 1979. Between 1985 and 1990 he was head of the section for essays and literary criticism on the editorial board of the monthly "Poezja". He also gave lectures on Polish literature at UW's Open University (Uniwersytet Otwarty) (1987-2001) and on the connections between literature and music at the Institute of Music Studies at UW (1996-97). He was awarded a habilitation degree in 1991 for his study Wojna bez końca. (Studia o poezji – wobec wojny i okupacji. Wybrane idee i motywy) – (A War Without End: Studies on poetry in the context of the war and occupation. Selected ideas and motifs). During this period, his articles, reviews and columns appeared in periodicals including "Nowy Świat" (1992, including the regular column Miejsce dla słowa (Space for the Word), "Sycyna" (1997), "Regiony" (1997), and "Przegląd Filozoficzno-Literacki" (2005 and 2009). In 1995, he was appointed professor at both UW and the private Pułtusk Academy of Humanities (Akademia Humanistyczna im. A. Gieysztora), where he worked until 2006. In 2002 he was made state-appointed professor. The following year he was presented with a lifetime achievement award by the periodical "Poezja dzisiaj". He was head of the jury of a literary competition supported by the mayor of Warsaw (O pióro prezydenta Warszawy) between 2004 and 2006. He was also a member of the chapters of the following awards: the UNESCO Prize of awarded by "Poezja dzisiaj” (from 2003), the Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz Literary Prize (from 2005) and the Faculty of Polish Studies' J. Baudouin de Courtenay Prize (from 2008). He was involved in the Warsaw literary festival Mironalia on many occasions since 2005. In 2008, he became academic advisor to Terra Litteraria – Koła Geografów Literatury, the society of literary geographers, at UW's Faculty of Polish Studies. He was also involved in numerous conferences, literary symposia both in Poland and internationally, including events held in Budapest, Berlin, Corfu, Athens, Moscow, Pskov and Florence. In 2015, he retired from the Department of Twentieth and Twenty-First Century Literature at UW's Institute of Polish Literature. He received the Gold Cross of Merit in 1983.

His daughter Magdalena, the art historian and translator of Italian literature, was born in 1978. Gronczewski died on 14 July 2019 in Warsaw, where he is buried at the Wawrzyszew Cemetery.