Past events

Marek Hlasko's Beautiful Twentysomethings: Polish Rebel Icon

Wednesday, February 19, 2014, at 7:00pm

(Re)discover one of Poland's most controversial and talented writers, Marek Hlasko through his autobiography, Beautiful Twentysomethings.

The event will feature a guest panel co-sponsored by Columbia University's East Central European Center and moderated by Professor Anna Frajlich:

Translator Ross Ufberg on why he undertook the translation of Hlasko's autobiography. Jaroslaw Anders on Hlasko and his relevance as a writer.

Click here to buy Ross Ufberg's translation of Marek Hlasko's Beautiful Twentysomethings on Amazon

About Marek Hlasko and Beautiful Twentysomethings:

Told in a voice suffused with grit and black humor, Hlasko's memoir is a classic of its time. He describes his relationships with such giants of Polish culture as filmmaker Roman Polanski, novelist Jerzy Andrzejewski, poet Wladyslaw Broniewski, and essayist Kazimierz Brandys. Hlasko also worked as a screenwriter, and his memoir provides a valuable glimpse into how markedly the medium of film affected him from his earliest writing days. He made his literary debut in 1956 and immediately became a poster boy for Polish literature.

Beautiful Twentysomethings is the work of an amazing talent, a writer whose books could be likened to that of Beat writers Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs. Hlasko lived on the edge, died young, and left behind a razor-sharp body of work that has become an inspiration to those of a whole new generation of readers.

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