Henryk Grynberg - Works and Achievements

Works and Achievements

Grynberg published his first story in 1959, which was later included in his debut collection, The Antigone Crew in 1963. His works - both while in Poland and in the United States – Grynberg narrated the stories of “those who died during the war and of those who survived to live afterwards in Lodz, Warsaw, or New York, struggling to come to terms with their own memory and with the fact that others did not remember.” His works were also described as characteristically abundant in “biographical and autobiographical material”, where his Jewish protagonists are the narrators whose personal experiences were “supplemented by the experiences of other ‘survivors’”.

Grynberg was a recipient of all major Polish literary prizes, and of the 2002 Koret Jewish Book Award. He also contributed to the Polish press and English-language journals. His essays and articles appeared in publications such as the Commentary, the Midstream, and the Soviet-Jewish Affairs in London. Grynberg’s books had been published in English translation, namely novels, Child of the Shadows (Vallentine Mitchell, London, 1969) - reedited as "The Jewish War and the Victory" (Northwestern University Press, 2001); the sequel, The Victory (Northwestern University Press, 1993); documentary prose, Children of Zion (Northwestern University Press, 1997), translated by Jacqueline Mitchell, and "Drohobycz, Drohobycz and Other Stories" (Penguin Books, 2002) translated by Alicia Nitecki, edited by Theodosia Robertson.

Grynberg's books were also translated into the French, German, Italian, Hebrew, Dutch, as well as Czech, Hungarian, and Swedish languages.

Grynberg's books: "Drohobycz, Drohobycz," "Memorbuch," "Monolog polsko-żydowski" and Uchodźcy (Refugees'' were nominated for Poland's Nike Literary Award