[TARNAWSKI Wit]. A collection of 13 handwritten letters and 2 postcards by Wit Tarnawski from 1971-...

[TARNAWSKI Wit]. A collection of 13 handwritten letters and 2 postcards by Wit Tarnawski, 1971-1977.
Letters ranging from 2 to 4 pages in form. A4 and A5, all handwritten and signed with the sender's full name, sent almost always from Monmouth, Wales. The sender deals mainly with Conrad subjects, important to both sides of the correspondence. Among other things, he writes about plans to translate "Nostromo," "my beloved novel"; while criticizing the existing translation, he adds, "I can imagine how much it cost the Lord's inner disgust to give Conrad's greatest work such a shoddy dressing" (in "Collected Writings"). Other sample passages: "my book on Conrad is just starting to be printed. There will be 400 pages of it" (related in "Conrad: Man, Writer, Pole," London 1972); "Thank you for explaining the 'eternal damnation' in 'Heart of Darkness' [...]. The thing interested me very much, because I clashed with Chwalewik on this subject"; "John Conrad sent me for revision a volume of his memoirs about his father, which he intends to publish soon. Definitely more interesting than the 'automobile' memoirs of Boris" (Conrad's older son); "the thought occurred to me [...] that if a second edition of ["The Negro of the Crew of the Narcissus"] were to take place, it would be worth giving a glossary of nautical expressions at the end of the volume [...]. Conrad emphasized in his preface to 'Negro' that the reader should see everything. But it is impossible to see what is going on with 'The Negro' [...] if one does not know the vocabulary of the sea. English readers, a nation of sailors, have it in their blood. For the Polish reader, the marine vocabulary is still dead." He also writes about Aniela Zagorska's translations, the activities of Conrad societies, and diagnoses the mysterious illness from which Conrad suffered in 1910. He shares a rather curious predicament: "I received [...] an honorarium for my translations, which was deposited in the Bank of Commerce - admittedly with the stipulation, unrealistic in my case, that it should be used for 'game shooting,' 'saddle vacations' and similar tourist purposes not for old gentlemen." In later letters, he mentions problems of a different nature: "I apologize for the writing, I'm afraid not very legible. I am going blind more and more rapidly and no longer control the letters well," and a few months later: "Please forgive the writing not very legible. I can hardly see writing anymore." Letters in very good condition, without envelopes.
W. Tarnawski (1894-1988) - prose writer, translator, literary critic, doctor by profession. Before the war, he and his father ran a well-known natural health center in Kosovo. Since 1947 he lived in England. "As a critic, he devoted most attention to the works of Joseph Conrad-Korzeniowski. In 1948 he founded the first Conrad Enthusiasts Club in England. He was a member of the Joseph Conrad Society and its honorary president since 1984. He also belonged to two American Conrad societies" (SPPnO).