„Goodnight, Dżerzi”. Jerzy Kosiński – hidden and exposed

Maria Zawadzka, 16 November 2016
In his new book „Goodnight, Dżerzi” Janusz Głowacki focuses on the figure of Jerzy Kosiński – a writer of Jewish descent born in Łódź, who survived the Holocaust and then left to the United States, where he had a career.

“The novel is based on the strange story of the writer Jerzy Kosiński […]. Who was this controversial man, constantly changing his biography, a womanizer marked by the Holocaust, a regular of clubs for sadomasochists, suspected of not having written the famous »Painted Bird« by himself?” (from the publisher’s note).

Kosiński (born Józef Lewinkopf), son of the Jewish industrialist Mieczysław (Mojżesz) Lewinkopf and Elżbieta Liniecka, spent the Second World War at the house of a Polish family from the village of Dąbrowa Rzeczycka, where he was brought by his father. Apart from the Polish name, Kosiński received from his father a baptismal certificate.

After the war, Kosiński settled in Jelenia Góra, then became a ski instructor in Zakopane and after that worked in the Institute of History and Sociology of the Polish Academy of Sciences. In 1957 he left to the United States, where he settled.

In 1965 he was granted the American citizenship. He lectured at the Wesleyan University, Yale and Princeton. Since 1973 he was chairman of the American PEN Club.

On May 3rd, 1991 he committed suicide. In his farewell letter he wrote: “I am now going to sleep, for a little longer than usually. Let’s call it eternity”.

Kosiński gained international renown thanks to his book “The Painted Bird”, presenting the dramatic story of a six-year-old boy. The narrator implies that the boy is Jewish, but it is not explicitly expressed in his work.

In some circles this book was described as anti-Polish and the author aroused big controversy. It was believed that “The Painted Bird” is based on autobiographical elements. Kosiński did not deny it, although he wrote in introductions to the next editions of his work that it was only a product of his imagination.

The “The Painted Bird” confronts the reader with drastic images of the war. This book presents the problem of abuse, atrocities and persecutions Jews and Gypsies had to suffer.

Kosiński’s book is also full of naturalist and pornographic elements. In the main scene wild birds peck to death another bird that someone painted in bright colors.