NINA POLAN'S EVENING ON   LECHON

On Thursday November 4, we were treated by Nina Polan to a masterly evocation of the life and works of Jan Lechoñ. The one-woman recitation was supplemented by a rendition of the poet's diary and poetry on audio tape by Boguslaw Jerke simulating Lechoñ's voice.

The performance was further enhanced with taped excerpts of the poet's favorite music. The climax was Polan's recitation of a dirge, accompanied by Chopin's funeral march. She compiled the text from the writer's own words as well as those of Wierzynski, Wittlin, Janta, Fryling, Czermanski, Nowakowski, Balinski, Morawski and others.

We were to imagine the various rooms he inhabited as a rite of passage through time and space. This was a lonely voyage of agony and shock which were the sources of his most prolific inspiration, alternating with long silences and the darkest of thoughts.

The latter culminated in his fall from the 15th. floor of a hotel in 1956. Ms. Polan's beautifully rendered montage of the text revived for us the incredibly vital, controversial and genial poet, first as the darling of the young Polish literati, then as a disillusioned diplomat in Paris, and finally as an impoverished aging exile in New York.

In all three places he proclaimed his love for Poland and especially Warsaw, which he envisioned everywhere. Profoundly anti-communist, he never had a chance to return.

Some in the audience had known Jan Lechoñ, and all were grateful to have his unique presence so well portrayed. Matka Boska Czestochowska as recited by Nina Polan brought out tears from most of us.

All in all, this was a most loving and tasteful evening not devoid of Lechoñ's legendary humor. [more]

Elzbieta Witttlin Lipton 11/7/99

Jan Lechon

One of the greatest Polish poets in the modern era.

Born on June 13, 1899, in Russian-occupied Warsaw, and died tragically by his own hand in New York City on June 8, 1956.