Kinderszenen

An old man-poet, playwright, essayist, and scholar-sifts
through the broken fragments of his memory as he recounts what it was like to
grow up in Warsaw during the German occupation of World War II. The result is Kinderszenen,
a searing and controversial memoir by a major post-war Polish writer that has
evoked both debate and praise, now translated into English for the first time.

The book's title comes from the suite of piano pieces by
Robert Schumann which evoke the innocence and joy of childhood-thus providing a
wrenching counterpoint to the violence, destruction, and madness that
characterize Jarosław Marek Rymkiewicz's coming of age.



While the scenes of his youth are depicted in vivid detail,
from his boyish encounters with cats, horses, and turtles up to the shocking
brutality of murder and mayhem witnessed at first hand, what really sets Kinderszenen
apart is its extended meditation on the nature of war, oppression, and
fanatical nationalism, and the possibility-however doomed it may seem-of human
resistance to those forces. Here is an enduring testimony that remains starkly
relevant to our own time.