Rudnicki, Adolf

Born Feb. 19, 1912, in Warsaw. Polish writer.

Rudnicki graduated from the School of Commerce in Kraków in 1931. He participated in the Polish campaign of 1939. In 1940 and 1941 he lived in L’vov, where he worked on the magazine Nowe widnokręgi (New Horizons). He returned to Warsaw in 1942 and participated in the Warsaw Uprising of 1944. His first works appeared in print in 1932. The characteristic features of Rudnicki’s prose were present even in the prewar works Soldiers (1933; Russian translation, 1936), Unloved (1936), and Experiments (1939). Among these features are attention to the psychology of characters and presentation of material as a direct recording of events by the author-observer accompanied by the author-observer’s lyrical commentary on the action. After the liberation of Poland, Rudnicki published collections of stories under the titles Shakespeare (1948), Escape From Iasnaia Poliana (1949), and The Dead Sea and the Living Sea (1952). He published cycles of essays, reminiscences, feuilletons, and short stories under the general title of Blue Pages, encompassing The Blind Mirror of These Years (1956), Beata’s Fiance (1961), Love Dust (1964), and The Group Portrait (1967). In Blue Pages he reflected on history, art, and love and appealed to the intelligentsia to acquire a higher sense of responsibility for its work.

Rudnicki received the State Prize of the Polish People’s Republic in 1955 and 1966.