Tworki (Writings From An Unbound Europe)

In Tworki, a village just southwest of Warsaw, there is a psychiatric hospital and in that hospital, the patients and their caretakers are hidden from the war just outside their iron gates. Our hero, Jurek, answers an ad in the paper for a job there and finds himself keeping the books alongside a knockout strawberry blonde named Sonia. They and their group of friends—vital young people like Marcel, an initial rival for Jurek; Olek, Sonia’s chosen love; and Janka, with whom Jurek becomes involved—do their jobs, picnic on the weekends, and dance in the gardens on the grounds of the hospital.Jurek speaks often of, and even in, verse, whether he is talking to his friends or in letters to a distant and admiring cousin. He and his friends live lives that defy the discord and destruction of the war in Europe, striving to rediscover or save whatever beauty they can. Much of this beauty is embodied by Sonia, who is beloved of all the friends and patients at the asylum.But the revitalizing spring they all hope will come for Poland is not to arrive this year. Despite the relative safety of their odd surroundings, the world and the war soon come for the friends. Olek’s absences are longer and unexplained. Marcel is not what he seems, and he and his wife mysteriously disappear, she says, to the gas. And the perfection that Sonia embodies cannot ultimately be kept, by the friends, by the nation, or even by Sonia herself.

Literature & Fiction

Bienczyk, Marek

Wachtel, Andrew

Literary

Northwestern University Press

<p>In a beautifully illustrated story for adults that is playful, philosophical, and with a wink of naughtiness, two characters—the Not-So-Little-Prince and Prickly Pear—consider the nature of happiness.\nMuch more than a tale of sweet indulgence, Prince in a Pastry Shop touches on a fundamental question important to us all, from preschooler to pensioner: what does it mean to be happy? Is happiness to be found in the smallest, most visceral of experiences like eating a sugar-dusted donut? Can we truly experience happiness while there is suffering in the world? Is there a great cosmic balance that demands for every happy moment there also be a moment of sorrow? Can we be happy knowing that it’s a fleeting condition? Can we really know and understand happiness while we’re experiencing it?\n"Happiness is nothing but trouble,” says the Prince. For Prickly Pear, happiness simply tastes like a cupcake or profiterole.\nWriter Marek Bieńczyk, the winner of the Nike prize, the most important literature award in Poland, joins with the brilliant Polish illustrator Joanna Concejo whose detailed pencil drawings create a wonderland, where sitting at a café table morphs into a dreamscape with animals, a borderland between waking and dreaming.\nWith a very light touch Prince in a Pastry Shop asks one of the most profound questions of our existence: is it enough to appreciate each moment of sweetness—and at what cost—or must we be active in an unforgiving world to find contentment.</p>

Prince in a Pastry Shop

Comics & Graphic Novels

Graphic Novels

Seven Stories Press

Dwojka znakomitych bohaterow, szczypta humoru i wdziek stylu - Marek Bienczyk, laureat nagrody literackiej Nike, podsuwa nam z pozoru tylko zartobliwa powiastke o szczesciu. Bo "ze szczesciem sa same klopoty" - mowi Duzy Ksiaze, jeden z bohaterow Bienczyka. I mnozy przyklady owych klopotow, analizujac powody ulotnosci szczescia. Jego rozmowczynia jest Kaktusica, dla ktorej szczescie ma smak napoleonki, bajaderki albo szarlotki. Za sprawa niezwyklych ilustracji Joanny Concejo i oryginalnego projektu (ksiazka ma forme ponad 6-metrowej harmonijki) swiat cukierni przechodzi w nowy wymiar - na pogranicze najpiekniejszego snu i jawy. To swiat pelen lekkosci, ciepla, z nuta marzycielstwa i poezji. Ksiazka-majstersztyk, ksiazka-dzielo sztuki.

Ksiaze w cukierni

Format

Kontener (Polish Edition)

Wielka Litera

Melancolía: De los que la dicha perdieron y no la hallarán más

Politics & Social Sciences

Philosophy

Acantilado

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Books by Bienczyk, Marek