Zofia Chądzyńska


Zofia Chądzyńska or Sophie Bohdan, was a Polish writer and translator of the Iberoamerican literature. Her first book was published in French under a pseudonym of Sophie Bohdan, entitled "Comme l'ombre qui passe", Publisher: Paris : Calmann-Lévy, 1960. Later she was publishing in Polish under her original name Zofia Chądzyńska.
She was one of the most famous Polish writers in the 1970s and she changed the literary landscape in Poland by introducing the Iberoamerican literature.

Biography

Polish and French years

She graduated from the Faculty of Economics of the Academy of Political Science in Warsaw. From 1930 to 1939 she was a clerk in the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Public Education. During World War II she was a prisoner of the Gestapo at Pawiak. After the war she lived in France where her husband, Bohdan Chądzyński, was a Polish consul in Lyon until 1949, then was exiled via Morocco to Argentina.

Exile in Argentina

From 1949 until 1959 she lived in Buenos Aires, where she led the white linen laundry and befriended Witold Gombrowicz, who later became one of the most famous Polish writers. She helped him in daily life and also with translating his works into Spanish. She also introduced him to her friends, the Buenos Aires political and cultural elite. Under the influence of Jean Reverzy, whom she knew from Lyon, she started writing her own book. Many years later she translated his two books into Polish. Her beloved husband Bohdan died early in 1951 and her father.

Years in Poland

When her first books were published almost simultaneously, one in French in Paris and the other one in Polish in Warsaw, she moved back to Poland in 1960, and she lived in Warsaw. During her travel from Argentina to Poland she read a book Hopscotch by Julio Cortázar, which she got from her friends. This inspired her to translate it into Polish. This was a great success, and Cortázar was more popular in Poland than in any other country. Later she was publishing her own books and translated almost a hundred Iberoamerican books into Polish.

Novels

as Sophie Bohdan published in French