„Piekło edytora”, czyli o listach Witkacego do żony

Abstract

S.I. Witkiewicz’s correspondence with his wife, Jadwiga née Unrug comprises 1278 letters, postcards, picture postacards and telegrams, which were written from 21 March 1923 to 25 August 1939. This is an exceptional evidence of the complicated emotional bond of these two people, whose marriage suffered difficult moments, but still stood the test of time. It is also an invaluable source of information on Witkacy’s life and work and at the same time an authentic psychological document showing the unusual personality of man and artist. Preparation of the critical edition of the letters is an exceptionally complex task, performing of which can be metaphorically described as going through “the editor’s hell”. The author discusses the most varied difficulties (“circles of the hell”), which pile up before the editor of this correspondence.