GONDOWICZ Jan

Born on 4 June 1950 in Warsaw; son of the former officer of the Polish Army Marian Gondowicz and the pianist Łucja, née Balwińska. He attended the Jan Kochanowski Grammar School (No. 27) in Warsaw. He started a degree in Polish philology at the University of Warsaw (UW) in 1968. He was a keen mountain climber for many years and earned extra income leading tours running campsites in the Tatra Mountains. He made his debut in 1971 in the weekly "Kultura" (no. 16) with a review a T. Parnicki novel titled "Tożsamość" do ustalenia ("Identity" to be established). He continued to serve as a literary critic with this periodical until 1977. Since 1972 he has regularly published reviews and columns in "Nowe Książki" (including the regular column Języczek uwagi since 1999). He also worked as editor of literary criticism at the monthly "Nowy Wyraz" (1972-73) and as a proofreader at the State Publishing Institute (Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy) from 1972 to 1982 and at the publisher Wydawnictwo Poznańskie. He was awarded a master's degree in 1976 and served as research assistant at the Centre for Literary Theory at the Institute of Polish Literature at UW. Between 1975 and 1982 he was a lecturer at the adult-education focused university Stołeczny Uniwersytet Powszechny run by the Society for Universal Education (Towarzystwo Wiedzy Powszechnej) in Warsaw. During this time, he regularly published reviews in "Miesięcznik Literacki" (1973-74, 1976) and "Tygodnik Kulturalny" (1979-81), as well as in "Student" (1973-75), "Argumenty" (1977-78), "Literatura na Świecie" (1979, 1985-86), "Radar" (1980-81), "Więź" (1982, 1983, and 2005), "Przegląd Katolicki" (1984-89; where he often used the by-line jg), "Przegląd Powszechny" (1987), and "Res Publica" (1987-88). He also published film reviews in the periodicals "Film" (1980-82) and "Kino" (1985-86). He wrote articles on sport in "Taternik" (1980-88) and "Bularz" (1986-89). He also published texts in underground periodicals that were not subject to official censorship, including "bruLion" (1988-1990), "IKS" (1981; using the by-line J.G.), "Ziarno" (1982; using the by-line S.R.), "Przegląd Wiadomości Agencyjnych" (1985 and 1989; using the pen name Ludwik Felc), "Tygodnik Mazowsze Solidarność" (1987-88; as Jacek Broeder), "Wezwanie" (1982, 1984; as: M.K., Gracjan Pyrek), "Wybór" (1985-86 and 1988; as Gracjan Pyrek, Ludwik Felc, Jacek Broeder, Scriptores, and Marek Biedka). During the 1980s, he also worked as an academic editor with various publishers. Between 1986 and 1998, he was assistant to Janusz Morgenstern, literary director of the Perspektywa film studio. In 1987, he married his partner of many years, the graphic artist Joanna. He made his debut as a translator in 1988 with a Polish version of an excerpt of Joseph Brodsky's essay Less than One, which appeared in the underground periodical "Wybór" (nr 16) as Josif Brodski o sobie (Joseph Brodsky on himself). Gondowicz also translated works of literature from Russian. Between 1991 and 1994 he was a member of the editorial board of the monthly "Społeczeństwo Otwarte" where he also published reviews, articles and translations. He and his wife subsequently ran the Małe publishing house between 1995 and 2002 where his roles included editing the translations published there. He contributed several additional entries to the Polish version of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography that appeared in 1999. He has published essays, reviews and translations in various publications, including: "Film" (1990-92), "Literatura na Świecie" (1990-91, 1998, 2001, 2003-04, 2006, and 2015), "Gazeta Wyborcza" (1990-96; in 1990/91 he was editor of the books section), the "Ex Libris" supplement of "Życie Warszawy", "Przekrój" (1994, and 1998-2004), "Rzeczpospolita" (1996-2002), "Tygodnik Powszechny" (1996-2000, 2002, 2004, 2007, and since 2010), "Res Publica Nowa" (1998-99), "Konteksty" (1999, since 2003), "Dialog" (since 2006), "Teatr" (2007, 2011, 2013), "De Musica" (2009), "Kwartalnik Filmowy" (2009), "Przestrzenie Teorii" (2011, 2013), "Pamiętnik Teatralny" (2012) and the online publication "dwutygodnik.com" (2010-13; and since 2011 the regular column Skok w bok [A Bit on the Side]). He published a regular column on mountain climbing between 2003 and 2013 in "Azero", the periodical of the Warsaw mountaineering society Klub Wysokogórski. In 2006, he established the series Kolekcja Ludzie, Czasy, Dzieła (People, Eras, Works), published by Edipresse, which presented portraits of Polish painters. Over two years, he edited twenty-six albums. During this time he also edited the series Klasycy sztuki (Art Classics) published by the daily newspaper "Rzeczpospolita". Between 2009 and 2012 he edited the quarterly "Migotania, przejaśnienia", where he also published a series of aphorisms titled Odpryski (Slivers). During this period, he also taught classes on the grotesque at Laboratorium Dramatu, a drama laboratory at Warsaw's Dramatyczny Theatre. Between 2011 and 2013, he served on the jury of the prestigious Nike Literary Prize. He lives in Warsaw.