Author Description

Although he never left his native Kraków except for relatively short periods, Stanis?aw Wyspia?ski (1869-1907) achieved worldwide fame, both as a painter, and Poland's greatest dramatist of the first half of the twentieth century. Acropolis: the Wawel Plays, brings together four of Wyspia?ski's most important dramatic works in a new English translation by Charles S. Kraszewski. All of the plays centre on Wawel Hill: the legendary seat of royal and ecclesiastical power in the poet's native city, the ancient capital of Poland. In these plays, Wyspia?ski explores the foundational myths of his nation: that of the self-sacrificial Wanda, and the struggle between King Boles?aw the Bold and Bishop Stanis?aw Szczepanowski. In the eponymous play which brings the cycle to an end, Wyspia?ski carefully considers the value of myth to a nation without political autonomy, soaring in thought into an apocalyptic vision of the future. Richly illustrated with the poet's artwork, Acropolis: the Wawel Plays also contains Wyspia?ski's architectural proposal for the renovation of Wawel Hill, and a detailed critical introduction by the translator. In its plaited presentation of Boles?aw the Bold and Ska?ka, the translation offers, for the first time, the two plays in the unified, composite format that the poet intended, but was prevented from carrying out by his untimely death.