Marta Wańkowicz-Erdman: A Commentary on Her Literary Biography

• In Event: Wańkowicz-Kister-Erdman: Emigrant Freedom Dilemmas (on the 50th Anniversary of Melchior Wańkowicz's Death) in the Light of Archival Research

Abstract

Marta Wańkowicz-Erdman: A commentary on her literary biography. (?)
The literary legacy of Marta Wańkowicz-Erdman - the younger daughter of a Polish journalistic classic, primarily known as a character in several of her father's works - still needs to be discovered. Little is known about her reportages, novellas, or translation work. Even less is known about her involvement in matters of freedom (collaboration with the Polish Government Information Center in New York until 1945, as well as her work with “Time”, “Fortune” and Radio Free Europe). However, the theme of liberation can be examined from a more personal dimension in Marta Erdman's case: she successfully liberated herself from strong paternal influences in her biography and literary work. This paper, aiming to incorporate Marta Erdman’s work into studies on post-war Polish emigration, mainly focusing on female emigrant narratives, will be based on her published and unpublished works from the Wańkowicz family archive, as well as valuable collections from Maisons-Lafitte and the Museum of Literature in Warsaw.

Author

• Beata Nowacka, U of Silesia in Katowice (Poland)