Keynote
The first complete biography of one
of the most important writers of
the twentieth-century. The story of
a person full of contradictions and
overflowing with a dark sense of humour,
who remained a mystery even to those
closest to him.

Selling Points
 The compelling biography of a key figure
in Polish and European literature full of
remarkable nuances.
 A full-blooded portrait of a complicated
man, torn by passions and contradictions.
 The author offers the broad historical
and artistic context in which Mrożek
wrote.
 Mrożek – owing to the times and places
in which he lived and wrote – was tangled
up in multiple historical and political
processes, which Nasiłowska also discusses
in her book.
 A biography based on little-known
documents and accounts, thanks to which
numerous facts about the author have
become accessible to a wider audience for
the first time.
 Mrożek, in spite of the passage of time,
remains an important and popular writer
for new generations of readers.
 Nasiłowska is a well-known literary
historian, highly regarded in Poland.

Description
Mrożek – a playwright, prose writer
and cartoonist – one of the most
important Polish and European writers
of the twentieth century. He was an
enigmatic and even mysterious figure.
He travelled a great deal, living first in
Krakow, then in Italy, Mexico and France.
He is the source of many anecdotes, but
simultaneously led a secretive life and
avoided publicity. He typically observed
other people and the world from
a distance, sideways, set apart. A man
of few words and the life and soul of
the party, a gloomy satirist. Previously, he
was mainly known only from fragments of
his biography, which often passed through
an auto-fictional filter.
This outstanding Polish literary scholar
has decided to take on the legend of
Mrożek by writing the first full biography
of this remarkable writer. A detailed
reconstruction of his life story is
interwoven with a rich and broadly drawn
panorama of the arts in twentieth-century
Polish and the world, owing to which
the book reads like a compelling novel full
of plot twists.

Target Market
Fans of biographies.
People interested in Polish and world
literature and the arts.