Jan Błoński

Jan Błoński (15 January 1931 – 10 February 2009) was a Polish historian, literary critic, publicist and translator. He was a leading representative of the Kraków school of literary criticism, which wielded significant influence in postwar Poland.

Professor of the Jagiellonian University, Błoński was habilitated there for the work entitled Mikołaj Sęp Szarzyński and the beginnings of the Polish Baroque. He was the literary editor for the publication of Witold Gombrowicz's collected works in 1986–88 through Wydawnictwo Literackie. He was also the Fellow of Collegium Invisibile. In 1996–2001 he served as juror for the Nike Literary Award.

Biography Jan Błoński was born in Warsaw in 1931, the son of Józef Błoński and Jadwiga née Lewandowska. During the occupation of Poland by Nazi Germany, Błoński witnessed the liquidation of the Warsaw Ghetto in 1942; a Jewish boy who had escaped ran into him on the street, but he didn't help. Błoński finished his studies in Polonistics at the Jagiellonian University in 1952 during the Stalinist era in Poland.

Books

Awards In 1968 he received Kościelski Award. In 1981 he received Kazimierz Wyka Award. In November 1995 he was awarded the Kraków Book of the Month Award for Wszystkie sztuki Sławomira Mrożka, the collected works of Sławomir Mrożek, his long-time friend from the Stalinist period.