07/05/2026
Vonnegut, Styron, and the University of Gdansk???? No kidding! Dr Beata Williamson knows more about it! Here's what she shared with us:
In March 1985, two internationally known authors appeared in Gdańsk. These were provocative writers who challenged the aes¬thetics of their time and boldly expressed unconventional, often controversial views. Their books, translated also into Polish, sold in impressive numbers. Kurt Vonnegut (1922–2007) was then par¬ticularly popular among Polish readers. His most recognizable nov¬els included Cat’s Cradle (1963) and Breakfast of Champions (1973), but above all, the famed Slaughterhouse Five (1969), inspired by the author’s personal experiences as an American prisoner of war who survived the Allied carpet bombing of Dresden in 1945. William Sty¬ron (1925–2006) was mainly known to Polish readers as the author of the novel Sophie’s Choice (1979). Its 1982 film adaptation quickly reached Poland, and excerpts from the novel appeared in the mag¬azine Literatura na Świecie in 1984. Sophie, the beautiful daughter of a Polish anti Semite, as a prisoner in Auschwitz is forced to decide on the destruction of one of her children. After the war, she emigrates to the US and becomes involved with a Jewish intellec¬tual, who is obsessively seeking revenge for the crimes of the Third Reich. Polish press of the 1980s reacted strongly to her story.
The text of the historical interview with Kurt Vonnegut and Wil¬liam Styron was a forgotten document, a treasure lost and accidentally unearthed. Thirty four years after the event, in America, Pro¬fessor Frank L. Cioffi found the printout in his archives and shared it with me. I showed the document to Professor Andrzej Ceynowa, who had live translated the interview. He authorized the text and was enthusiastic about the publication.
In 1985, when the two writers visited, Frank Cioffi and his wife Kathleen taught at the University of Gdańsk. Frank was a Ful¬bright scholar. Andrzej Ceynowa, future rector of the University, was a doctor at the English Institute. I was a third year student
there. The other contributors to this volume are Professor Olga Kubińska and Professor Wojciech Kubiński. Ola was, like me, a stu¬dent; Wojtek had just finished writing his doctorate and was on the faculty then.
In late 2019, when Professor Cioffi sent the interview to me, trouble loomed ahead. Soon the pandemic began, and our atten¬tion turned to daily matters. Professor Ceynowa’s health declined, and he passed on in 2021. He never managed to write the intro¬duction he planned for the interview. Last time I saw him, Andrzej pointed to inconspicuous, framed pictures on his living room’s wall: these were notes of thank you from Styron, and a couple of drawings from Vonnegut (very typical for one familiar with his art¬work); the writers made them after the interview and presented to the Ceynowas later that day. These drawings, replicated here, were kindly made available to us by Ms. Alina Ceynowa. Sadly, I have failed to find any photographs of the 1985 visit.
Editing this text has been a bittersweet experience—nostalgic, but awakening demons from the past as well. To lighten up the mood, I will relate an anecdote, explaining why, at the great event, I myself was absent. It was simply that at the age of twenty three I had other priorities: I chose to take a week off, skip classes, and join my friends at Dolina Pięciu Stawów in the Tatras, where we enjoyed ourselves greatly and non academically. Given the fact that the interview and my colleagues’ accompanying writings refer to Polish mid-1980s in predominantly grave terms, I wish to remind the reader that we managed to have plenty of fun in those times as well.
