Gustaw Morcinek

Gustaw Morcinek (born Augustyn Morcinek; 25 August 1891 – 20 December 1963) was a Polish writer, educator and later member of Sejm from 1952 to 1957. He is considered one of the most important writers from Silesia.

Biography In 1891, Morcinek was born in Karviná into a poor family, the youngest of four siblings. In 1892, his father Józef died and his mother was forced to provide for the family. Morcinek started work in the coal mine at the age of 16, which was quite late compared to the standard of those times. When he was 19, miners raised money for his education and he began attending a teachers' seminary in Biała Krakowska, from which he graduated in 1914. In 1914 he was drafted into the Austro-Hungarian Army and after 1918 served briefly in the Polish Army. In 1920, when Cieszyn Silesia was divided between Poland and Czechoslovakia, his hometown Karviná fell to the latter. Morcinek was a pro-Polish activist and thus decided to stay in Poland. In the 1920s and 1930s he worked as a teacher in Skoczów.

Interwar period During the interwar period, Morcinek published many articles in the Silesian press. He wrote his most important books in the late 1920s and early 1930s becoming the only notable Silesian Polish-language prosaist of the interwar period. His works concentrate mostly on coal mining and Silesian themes. Morcinek showed miners' work and life in a realistic way and accentuates the class character of national oppression of Polish miners.

Works

Novellas and novellas collections

Noc listopadowa (1927) W kwietniową noc (1928) Zgaszony płomyk (1928) O te świętą ziemeczkę (1929) Serce za tamą (1929) Cisza (1930) Miód w sercu (1930) Chleb na kamieniu (1931) Na bieda-szybie (1932) Sześć dni (1932) Dzieje węgla (1933) Kataryniarz (1933) W zadymionym słońcu (1933) Uśmiech na drodze (1935) Gołębie na dachu (1936) Po kamienistej drodze (1936) W najmłodszym lesie (1937) Maszerowa (1938) Miasteczko nad rzeką (1938) Królewski dług (1939)

Short story collections

Byli dwaj bracia (1930) Wyrąbany chodnik (1931–32) Inżynier Szeruda (1937) Wyorane kamienie (1939) Dziewczyna z Pól Elizejskich (1946) Listy z mojego Rzymu (1946) Wróżbita (1946) Dwie korony (1948) Zagubione klucze (1948) Pod gongiem (1949) Pokład Joanny (1951) W Nysie na rynku (1952) Odkryte skarby (1953) Ondraszek (1953) W Wiergulowej dziedzinie (1953) Viktoria (1954) Wskrzeszenie Herminy (1956) Z mojej ziemi (publicystyka) (1956) Judasz u Monte Sicuro (1957) Czarna Julka (1959) Siedem zegarków kopidoła Joachima Rybki (1960) Opowieści o ludziach z pociągu (1963) Górniczy zakon (1964)

Fairy tales collections Jak górnik Bulandra diabła oszukał (1961) Przedziwne śląskie powiarki (1961) Przedziwna historia o zbójniku Ondraszku (1963)

Books for children Narodziny serca (1932) Gwiazdy w studni (1933) Łysek z pokladu Idy (1933) Ludzie są dobrzy (1935) Miasteczko nad rzeką (1938)

Other works Śląsk (1933) Listy spod morwy (1945) Listy spod morwy (1946) Zabłąkane ptaki Urodzaj ludzi Ziemia cieszyńska