The Penguin Book of Polish Short Stories (2025)
A revelatory and richly varied collection of Poland’s greatest short stories, edited by Antonia Lloyd-Jones, and with a foreword by Nobel Prize-winner Olga Tokarczuk
Witty, surprising and sparkling, this anthology is an essential exploration of Polish literature. Its thirty-nine superb stories run the length of the literal and imaginative creation of Poland, from 1918 (when Poland regained its independence after 123 years of colonization by the neighbouring empires) to the present.
The stories include ‘Miss Winczewska’, by the classic twentieth-century writer Maria Dabrowska (1889—1965), based on her experience of returning from the provinces to the destroyed capital when the war ended in 1945; and ‘In the Shadow of Brooklyn’ by Stanislaw Dygat (1914—1978), the comical tale of a young man’s envy of what he imagines to be his father’s success with women. At the contemporary end, it includes a story by Nobel Prize winner Olga Tokarczuk (1962-), ‘The Green Children’, a historical story set in 1656, narrated by a Scottish doctor who, as the Polish king’s physician, travels about the wilds of Poland and encounters two feral children.
Below are reflections by Jenny Robertson and Krystyna Szumelokova on two of the stories from the book.
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Zielony Balonik book club notes:
Lost in translation – Jenny Robertson’s thoughts on ‘When the Glow of Dawn Appears’ by Marek Nowakowski
The story tells about a work party on a day out mushroom gathering – such a truly Polish thing to do, and on the picnic they toast one another with dire consequences, but again such a typical thing in the Communist world. It took Magda to remind me that mushroom gathering plays a part in the great national epic Pan Tadeusz. And of course we have sexy mini-skirted Mariola instead of Telimena. No matter how good the translation, these nuances are lost on a non-Polish readership.
There was a reference to ‘a lilting eastern accent’ which also carries layers of meaning for a Polish reader and I feel there might be some sort of double entrendre in the name of the main protagonist, Engineer Dopierała (nicknamed Onward and Upward) which I haven’t picked up.
Two old soldiers claim to have served in Grudziaz – and that immediately rings bells of Polish cavalry and pre-war patriotism. These quarrelsome old boys don’t fit into People’s Poland, but again, this won’t mean so much to an English language reader coming to these stories for the first time.
I identified with the way Dopierała felt ‘lost, alien, unfriendly, ashamed, regretful’ during his visit to England. This sense of shame and inequality was felt by Poles and many other visitors from Warsaw Pact or Communist countries. There’s a story by Antoni Libera in Pokaz prosy, a collection of PRL short stories, in which the protagonist visits Switzerland, can’t change złote for Western currency so tries, under cover of darkness, to fish out coins people throw into a fountain.
This story turns on the jealousy Dopierała feels for his Managing Director who ‘thought of his small town, his tailor father, the rattle of the sewing machine, his parents whispering at night – they wanted to send him to The Gymnasium for higher education… (and now) no trace of the sewing machine, his home, his father, nobody.’
The ‘small town’ the lost sewing machine, the lost father and a reference later to ‘that memorable period’ when his colleagues had ganged up against the MD, ‘at last our backyard will be tidied up too,’ made me think – another potentially ‘lost in translation’ nuance, that the MD is Jewish and that ‘memorable period’ referred to 1968. Once again, it would take a Polish reader to build these hints in the rich and complex tapestry in which this seemingly straightforward story is woven.
And finally, the title, when the glow of dawn appears. I didn’t like it at all, it’s stilted, unnatural and incorrect. The Polish comes from the first line of a hymn which is actually untranslatable. Kiedy ranne wstają zorze, literally when early glows arise. Notice how the adjective, verb and noun are all plural. But in English ‘glow’ can only be singular and it doesn’t ‘appear’. Dawn appears and with it the glow in the east. So I wrestled with this and could only think of a Victorian hymn which begins, ‘when morning gilds the skies.’ So glow has become a verb. Then, thanks to Magda, I re-read Pan Tadeusz in Bill Johnson’s wonderful translation in which gallant old Maciej sings his morning hymn, ‘When glows the light of dawn…’ So again, ‘glow’ has quite correctly become a verb and the text reads easily and naturally.
It is in fact a beautiful, simple hymn of praise written by Franciszek Karpiński, the author of the much loved Christmas carol Bóg się rodzi, God is born. The surprising thing is that ruthless, self-seeking ‘Onward and Upward’ Dopierała should find himself humming it during the community sing song which the others, well-schooled in Socialist youth movements, another layer of nuance in this mushroom gathering tale.
Jenny Robertson
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Krystyna Szumelukowa’s thoughts on ‘Red Lipstick’ (‘Czerwona Szminka’) by Magdalena Tulli, translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones
The two women in the story have no names: just I and Her. I’s children are just He and She. The friendship between the two begins in primary school but they emerge during adolescence as opposites in character. I is quiet and submissive whereas Her is noisy and dominant. Her adds to her allure with her Helena Rubinstein Red Lipstick which tantalises I’s boyfriend at the time but to no avail. The ties that bind I and Her continue in later life for better for worse.
The story opens after a gap of three years with a resumption of contact which repeats previous encounters with the reappearance of a red lipstick, but this time with the addition of a perfume named Heart. A day shopping, having a coffee, going to the cinema and a restaurant meal follows the same pattern of behaviour with I feeling that she is treated akin to a chair or an umbrella stand. I did marry her tantalised boyfriend and had a family. Her entered into a series of relationships and is now a wealthy widow inheriting a perfumery business. The purpose for the day was for Her to purchase a new perfume called Heart advertised by a competitor. The displays of a red flask with a silk ribbon were vivid. Her did not buy. But she later returned alone to the shopping mall deliberately to steal a Heart.
The subsequent outburst of hate from I then draws from Her a homily on her interpretation of the mystery of random particles of matter appearing from nowhere to nowhere with the future flowing into the past. And that all we have to try to make sense of it all is our senses which constantly lie to us. In the case of Her, her eyes, ears and sense of smell are already distorting. The world she describes as a cloud of something which is hardly there. I is then confronted with the same pain of realisation. They part with Her paying the restaurant bill. I and Her continue to be bound together. Nothing has changed but nothing is the same.
Magdalena Tulli’s short story is vivid in every sense even with no names. It is provocative and amusing at the same time. It sets the mind a-wandering, alighting on the incongruities in life that abound. A few years ago, I attended an Apple workshop on the iCloud. I wanted to know how to use it better. I then asked where it was? I was told that as we were in Edinburgh it would be in Gateshead! With back-up in the USA!
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Patrycja Jankowska’s thoughts on stories by Magdalena Tulli, Maria Dabrowska, Beata Obertynska, Marek Hłasko and Bruno Schulz.
Magdalena Tulli’s ‘Red Lipstick’ describes a young woman who lives in Warsaw. This lady chooses new perfumes for each new romance. ‘Red Heart’ seems to be a good choice. She checked fragrances at the perfume store of well-known chain and made her decision, left the store and when she returned she no longer remembered the red heart, which was lost between other perfumes. The red lipstick of Helena Rubenstein is another symbol of coming romance and memories from high school time, when girls painted lips to be noticed by students and be offered a lift on their motorbikes. The final scene in restaurant reveals discussion about senses. What is real, what is not. Is the world real? Does it exist? The senses can be misleading. Financial separation of the bill between lovers and memory of perfume shop remind us that heart is the most important.
Maria Dabrowska’s ‘Miss Winczewska’ is a story about two librarians. The older, Miss Winczewska, works at the library focusing her whole heart on people who visit and borrow books; however, her professionalism is under discussion. Some library cards are not completed properly and many books are missing on shelves. The role of young Natalia is to check the work of Miss Winczewska. She does it in a very disrespectful way, reminding her from time to time that she is not a child but a person who is sent by management. It seems that Natalia feels someone better, indicating that new readers can be attracted by presenting a play whereas Miss Winczewska knows readers personally. Natalia appears as very self-confident person. The final scene reminds that what we give to people and world, comes back, as Natalia is checked by a tram conductor.
Beata Obertynska’s ‘Babka’ is about Walentyna Buczko, a woman from Poland, with a deep belief in God. She belongs to a generation, who have always been waiting for visitors at their fences. Babka stresses that she is not educated, but she knew how to help people by using herbs. She reminds us about the fight between good and bad, and that people, who act in a good way, are protected by heaven. Despite not being very well educated and believing that she doesn’t need knowledge, she loves reading books which bring her joy and wisdom. Babka has to go to hospital herself. After the operation she dies as nobody. She passed quietly with small bunch of flowers left on her grave.
Marek Hłasko’s ‘The Soldier’ is about a military man who is afraid to fight. He has been dreaming about his home farm. His fear spreads into others. He was so afraid that his eyes looked white. He died like the hero everyone wants to be. Before he retreated with people from the village, he returned home and looked around from the hill. He lived longer than others feeling loneliness.
In Bruno Schulz’s ‘My father joins the fire brigade’, a boy returns from the summer holidays with his mother, and discovers that the night-time discussions of parents are about the fire brigade his father has joined. He has become captain of the fire brigade, which wears red and shiny velvet uniforms. The story describes an attitude of firemen, their light sleep in their uniforms, always being prepared to act. They marched in a column saluting, while Father took his place at the head of squad. All heroes were marching away in twos with shiny helmets on their heads.
The Penguin Book of Polish Short Stories takes readers into the world which passed. Longing for the world with traditions, events which took place throughout centuries create interesting fictional tales, but most of them took place in real life.