Jan Brzechwa, actually Jan Wiktor Lesman was born 15 August 1898 in Żmerynka (Ukraine), and he died 2 July 1966 r in Warsaw. He was buried at the Powązki Military Cemetery.
He is known mainly for fairy tales and poems for children and satirical texts for adults. He also translated Russian literature (m. in. works by A. Pushkin, Sergei Yesenin and W.. Mayakowski).
Jan Brzechwa graduated from the Scientific and Educational Department of the Jesuit Fathers in Chyrów and then the Faculty of Law of the University of Warsaw. As a lawyer, he specialized in copyright law. He was the author of the commentary on the Copyright Act of 1926.
Why Jan Brzechwa? In order to answer this question, we have to go back to those times. At the same time, we are dealing with the works of Bolesław Leśmian (cousin of our patron and pseudonym author) and Jan Lesman. Earlier, would later these authors be confused with each other, so one of them used a pseudonym. Why exactly Jan? Because he was younger, and not yet known. He did not want to be confused with the well-known Bolesław Leśmian.
An interesting fact is this, that on literary grounds he used the pseudonyms Szer - Szeń and Inspicjent Brzeszczot.
He also took part as a volunteer 36 Infantry Regiment of the Academic Legion in the Polish-Bolshevik war (1920 – 1921), for which he received an award.
As a teenager, Brzechwa decided to try and made his debut in 1915 year by publishing poems in the pages of Piotrogrodzki “Banner” and Kiev “Ukrainian ears”. At that time, he did not associate his future with literature. He wanted to become a lawyer and began such studies. During his studies, he earned some extra money by writing satirical texts, songs and skits.
Selected songs:
1926 - Computes made up
1929 - Talismans
1932 - Third circle
1935 - Wormwood and cloud
1938 - Needle and thread danced (with other lines like “Tomato”, “Crane and heron” Whether “At the stall”)
1939 - Ducky Strange (with other lines like “Punctuation marks” Whether “Jay”)
1945 - A fairy tale about the corsair Palemon
1946 - Mr. Kleks' Academy
1946 - Mr. Drops and his corpse
1946 - The adventures of the Chess Flea
1946 - Bird rumors
1946 - The woodpecker told the owl
1947 - A fairy tale about a steel hedgehog (ed. Łódź 1947, illustrations by Anna Chamiec)
1948 - On the Bergamut Islands
1948 - The adventures of the knight Szaławiła
1951 - We learn to walk
1953 - Petrushka Theater
1953 - Brzechwa for children
1953 - Wagars
1953 - The foolishness of the fox Witalis
1954 - Fairy tales and fairy tales
1955 - Adjudication of the contest
1955 - Selected poems
1957 - Magik
1958 - Drained from the leg
1958 - One hundred fairy tales
1958 - When the fruit matures - a novel based on autobiographical motifs
1961 - Mr. Kleks's travels
1964 - Laughable
1965 - From fairy tale to fairy tale
1965 - The triumph of Mr. Kleks
1967 - A place for a scoffer
1968 - Drastic stories
1968 - The lyrics of my life
