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Book Description:

Slawomir Mrozek has reigned as the preeminent playwright and satirist of Eastern Europe for the past half century. A sharp critic of all oppressive systems during the Cold War, he began his career as a young enthusiast for the new Communist regime in the early 1950s.

It didn't take long, however, until he was deemed such a threat that his work was banned not only in his native Poland, but also in all Eastern bloc countries. After the fall of Communism, he returned home from self-imposed exile in the West and was recognized as a major literary figure. This reissue of fourteen plays and ten short stories, along with a sampling of his capricious cartoons, affirms Mrozek's mastery of a wide spectrum of styles, and illustrates the development of his talent over the decades.

About the author:

Sławomir Mrozek - Polish dramatist, prose writer, and cartoonist, whose works explore alienation, abuse of power, conformity, and the limitations of human freedom under a totalitarian system. Mrozek often uses surrealistic humor and grotesque situations to reveal the distorted beliefs of his characters. His most famous plays include Tango (1964), a multileveled family saga, and Emigranci (1974), about the collapse of illusions. After spending 33 years abroad, Mrozek returned to Poland in 1997.