Her novel with no beginning and end Maria Stangret started in 1962 and wrote in her spare time for several years.
photo by Ewa Goral
The story of a crazy grandfather obsessed with healthy lifestyle was inspired by a book on hydrotherapy, which was believed to be a remedy for almost all illnesses, written by the clergyman and physician Sebastian Kneipp. Maria Stangret did not see writing as an important aspect of her artistic activity. The original was handwritten in an old notebook, which she gave to Anna Baranowska many years later. Grzegorz Musiał and Janusz Głowacki, who ran Galeria 86 in Łódź, became interested in the novel and published it in 2002 under the title “Pamiętnik Dziadka” (“Grandpa’s Diary”). Wiesław Borowski described this text as “a montage of literary texts extracted from books on unimportant, peripheral subjects, from outdated practical manuals, pamphlets describing banal intrigues and moral conflicts and her own texts about equally unimportant, banal, and embarrassing situations. It is not so much a novel but rather a permanent literary adventure devoid of the form, composition, and sense of ‘dignity’ inherent in all existing genres of literary creation” (Wiesław Borowski, “nota o Marii Stangret Kantor” [“A note about Maria Stangret Kantor”, Poezja, No. 12, December 1970, p. 108)
Book is available at the gallery.
Comments