Meksykańskie lata Teodora Parnickiego

Abstract

The paper is an attempt to summarize the Mexican period of Teodor Parnicki’s biography. Gorliński-Kucik relates Parnicki’s transatlantic journey, the ordeal of having to survive on modest grants, the drudgery of writing one novel after another, and, finally, his return to Poland. In the course of over twenty years of expatriation, Parnicki experienced important events in his personal life: he divorced and remarried; during that time also his attitude to Catholicism underwent a significant change. In the years 1944—1967 (when Parnicki lived in Mexico) he wrote his most important historical novels (Słowo i ciało — “Word and Flesh”, Koniec “Zgody narodów” — “The End of the ‘Concord of Nations’ ”), and the cycle Nowa baśń (“A New Tale”). After his return to Poland (Parnicki was clearly disillusioned with life in the Polish People’s Republic) the character of his writing changed noticeably – autobiographical and science fiction elements appeared in his novels.