BIO
Born on 26 April 1903 in Lwów (now Lviv, Ukraine); daughter of the customs officer Ludwik Chrzanowski and Maria, née Ochabska. She attended school in Lwów, becoming a pupil at the Juliusz Słowacki Private Girls' Secondary School in 1913. Several months later, she moved into the French-speaking home of Désiréé Quinton her paternal grandmother, who was born in France. Quinton's two daughters, Maria and Anna Chrzanowska, also lived in the house. She continued her education from 1915 at the Private Reformed Girls' Secondary School, which was run according to state-school norms, before moving in 1917 to the Zofia Strzałkowska Private Classical Girls' Secondary School, where she also received lessons in Latin. After completing her secondary education, she studied Classical philology at the Jan Kazimierz University (UJK) in Lwow from 1921, before swapping to Romance philology in 1923. In 1924, she married Jerzy Kowalski↑, professor of Classical philology at UJK. She moved with him to Lausanne, where they conducted archival research together on Adam Mickiewicz's Lausanne lectures. In 1925, she attended lectures on Latin literature. From early 1926 to May 1927, she travelled, initially alone for several weeks to continue the research on Mickiewicz's lectures first in Lausanne then in Paris, where she also studied Latin and Ancient Greek literature and grammar. From June 1926, she travelled with her husband around Italy and Greece, familiarizing herself with museum and library collections. She also visited archaeological digs in Turkey and Tunisia. She was awarded a master's degree from UJK in 1930 for her study Les éléments constructifs dans les Faux-Monnayeurs d'André Gide. She then furthered her knowledge of Classical literature in Berlin and Munich. She made her debut in 1931 with the novel Catalina, co-written with her husband. In subsequent years, she collaborated with him on further prose works. She travelled with her husband around Britain, France and Spain. In 1933/34, she collaborated with the Lwów-based music and literature periodical "Lwowskie Wiadomości Muzyczne i Literackie". She joined the Polish Writers' Trade Union (ZZLP) in Lwów in 1934. She was a member of the Lwów branch of the Przedmieście (Suburb) Literary Group. Between 1936 and 1938, she was a member of the editorial college of the weekly "Sygnały". In 1936, she co-organized the Congress of Cultural Workers in Lwów. She and her husband continued their research trips and journeys as tourists across Europe, with their experiences being reflected in their literary works. She visited Italy and Greece in 1934 and 1936, and Denmark and Sweden in 1937. From September 1938 to April 1939, she and her husband conducted research in Parisian libraries. Following the outbreak of World War II, she continued to live in Lwów. During the early part of the German occupation, she became acquainted with Maria Dąbrowska↑ and Stanisław Stempowski, who stayed in Lwów intermittently from December 1939 to the start of June 1940. She maintained regular correspondence with Dąbrowska after that. Financial difficulties meant that turned to odd jobs, including knitting, to make a living, while from 1941 she baked rolls and gingerbread, and ran a confectioners' and coffee shop with Maria Manteuffel and Maria Kulczyńska, the wives of her husband's fellow professors, before acting as an agent in the trading of artworks. She moved to Warsaw in 1943, initially spending several months there living with Dąbrowska. Their friendship developed into an intimate relationship. She later moved to the city permanently together with her husband. She earned a living as a private tutor. She was involved in the underground literary world. In March 1944, she went to live initially with her sister Zofia Ostrowska in the village of Sichów before visiting a friend in Stary Sącz. During this period, she supported friends and family in Warsaw with food parcels, before returning to Warsaw in May of that year. She experienced the Warsaw Uprising of 1944, and subsequent exile, alongside Dąbrowska and Stempowski, as they moved from Pruszków to Podkowa Leśna and then to Zduńska Wola. She then went with her husband to Krakow and Rytro. From February to April 1945 she lived initially in Lublin and then in Wacław Lachert's manor house in nearby Ciechanki, which he made available to writers. She then spent a brief period in Warsaw, working for the Workers' University Society (TUR – Towarzystwo Uniwersytetu Robotniczego). She remained a member of the Polish Writers' Trade Union (ZZLP; which in 1949 became the Polish Writers' Union – ZLP), participating in the First National Congress of ZLP Delegates in Krakow. In November 1945, she moved to Wroclaw, where her husband was appointed dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Chair in Classical philology at the University of Wroclaw (UWr). She was involved in promoting cultural activities in Lower Silesia, founding and chairing the Circle of Lovers of Polish Literature and Language, organizing Literary Thursdays and co-founding – and co-editing from 1945 to 1952 alongside Tadeusz Mikulski and initially her husband, too – the periodical "Zeszyty Wrocławskie". She also collaborated with the local station of Polish Radio. She remained active as a writer, producing (alone from 1945) novels and short stories. Excerpts of her prose writing and articles appeared in periodicals including "Odra" (1946-67), "Odrodzenie"* (1948-49), "Nowa Kultura" (1952-63), and "Sprawy i Ludzie" (1952-54). She was widowed in 1948. That year she received the prize of the city of Wroclaw. She joined the Polish PEN Club in 1948. In 1954, she moved in with Maria Dąbrowska in Warsaw. She was active in the Polish Committee for the Defence of Peace, attending the Congress of the People for Peace in Finland in 1955 and the Extraordinary Assembly of the World Peace Council in East Berlin. She collaborated with the periodical "Przegląd Kulturalny" between 1957 and 1960, contributing, among other things, reviews using the by-line A.K.. In 1963, she and Maria Dąbrowska travelled through Italy, France (where they also visited the editorial offices of the periodical "Kultura" in Maisons-Laffitte), and Switzerland (where they met Jerzy Stempowski). In March 1974, she was among the writers and intellectuals who signed the Letter of 34 in defence of free speech. After Dąbrowska's death in 1965, she was named in Dąbrowska's will as one of the trustees of her literary estate. She received the Silver Cross of Merit in 1952, and the Officers' Cross (1954) and Commanders' Cross (1968) of the Order of Polonia Restituta. She had a daughter, the Romance philologist Maria (known as Tula to her closest family and friends; married name: Gawryś; 1946-1993). Kowalska died on 7 March 1969 in Warsaw and is buried at the city's Powązki Cemetery.
Twórczość
1. Catalina. [Powieść; współautor:] J. Kowalski. Lwów, Warszawa: Księgarnia Polska B. Połonieckiego 1931, 78 s. Przedruk zob. poz. ↑.
2. Mijają nas. Powieść. [Współautor:] J. Kowalski. Warszawa: F. Hoesick 1932, 200 s. Przedruk bez tytułu całości zob. poz. ↑.
Zawartość
3. Złota kula. [Opowiadania; współautor:] J. Kowalski. Warszawa: Rój 1933, 256 s.
Zawartość
4. Gruce. Powieść. [Współautor:] J. Kowalski. T. 1-2. Warszawa: F. Hoesick 1936, 743 + 568 s. Wyd. nast. w opracowaniu A. Kowalskiej z podtytułem Powieść o lwowskiej rodzinie. Warszawa: Czytelnik 1968, 711 s.
5. Opowiadania greckie. [Warszawa:] Czytelnik 1949, 140 s. Wyd. nast. tamże 1956. Przedruk zob. poz. ↑.
Nagrody
Zawartość
Adaptacje
radiowe
6. Uliczka klasztorna. Powieść. [Warszawa:] Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy 1949, 161 s. Wyd. 2 tamże 1964. Przedruk zob. poz. ↑.
7. Wielka próba. [Powieść]. [Warszawa:] Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy 1951, 162 s. Wyd. 2 tamże 1952. Przedruk zob. poz. ↑.
Nagrody
Przekłady
niemiecki
8. Na rogatce. [Powieść]. Warszawa: Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy 1953, 169 s.
9. Wójt wolborski. Powieść [o A. Fryczu Modrzewskim]. Warszawa: Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy 1954, 311 s. Wyd. 2 tamże łącznie z poz. ↑ pt. Wójt wolborski. Powieść o Fryczu Modrzewskim. 1963, 530 s.
10. Opowieści wrocławskie: Uliczka klasztorna; Wielka próba; Notatki wrocławskie. Warszawa: Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy 1955, 314 s.
11. Astrea. [Powieść]. Warszawa: Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy 1956, 264 s. Wyd. 2 tamże łącznie z poz. ↑ pt. Wójt wolborski. Powieść o Fryczu Modrzewskim. 1963, 530 s.
12. Nimfa. [Opowiadania]. Warszawa: Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy 1958, 165 s.
Zawartość
13. Safona. [Powieść]. Fragmenty Odysei w przekł. L. Siemieńskiego. Warszawa: Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy 1959, 127 s.
Adaptacje
radiowe
telewizyjne
14. Kandelabr efeski. Opowiadania. Warszawa: Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy 1960, 174 s. Przedruk zob. poz. ↑.
Zawartość
Adaptacje
radiowe
15. Bejdula i paradnice. Opowiadania wybrane. Warszawa: Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy 1961, 305 s.
Zawartość
16. Gąszcz. [Powieść; współautor:] J. Kowalski. Powst. 1935-1961. Wyd. w oprac. [i ze wstępem] A. Kowalskiej. Warszawa: Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy 1961, 375 s.
17. Lubię środy. [Opowiadanie dla młodzieży]. Warszawa: Nasza Księgarnia 1961, 70 s.
18. Ołtarze. Opowiadania. Warszawa: Czytelnik 1962, 101 s. Wyd. 2 zob. poz. ↑.
Zawartość
19. Figle pamięci. [Wspomnienia]; Archiwum młodości. [Opowiadanie; współautor:] J. Kowalski. Warszawa: Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy 1963, 192 s.
20. Ptasznik. Opowiadania. Warszawa: Czytelnik 1964, 146 s. Wyd. 2 zob. poz. ↑.
Zawartość
21. Wieża. Opowiadania. Warszawa: Czytelnik 1965, 120 s. Wyd. 2 zob. poz. ↑.
Zawartość
Przekłady
węgierski
Adaptacje
radiowe
22. Trzy boginie. Opowiadania. [Współautor:] J. Kowalski. Warszawa: Czytelnik 1966, 602 s.
Zawartość
23. Szczelina. [Powieść]. Warszawa: Czytelnik 1967, 111 s.
Przekłady
węgierski
24. Dzienniki. Powst. 1927-1969. Druk większych fragmentów: Dzienniki. [1945-1951]. „Literatura” 1972 nr 23-33; Dzienniki. (1951-1954). [Wybór]. „Odra” 1973 nr 5-10; Dzienniki. (Rok 1956). „Więź” 1980 nr 11/12. Wyd. w wyborze: Dzienniki 1927-1969. Przedmowa: J. Hartwig. Wybrał, z rękopisu do druku przygotował, przypisami opatrzył P. Kądziela. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Iskry 2008, 579 s. Wyd. 2 poprawione i uzupełnione tamże 2022.
25. Ołtarze; Ptasznik; Wieża. Opowiadania. Wyd. 2. Warszawa: Czytelnik 1977, 244 s.
Zawartość
26. Mroczne południe. [Opowiadania]. Kraków: Wydawnictwo Literackie 1979, 109 s.
Zawartość
Omówienia i recenzje
• Ankiety dla IBL PAN 1951, 1966.
