Talk:Jerzy Kosiński

message: An excerpt from the article:
Criticisms arose, when the public was confronted with another picture of the life of Kosinski during the Holocaust, as described in the book by unauthorized Polish biographer Joanna Siedlecka. In response, Kosinski stated that he never meant for The Painted Bird to be an autobiography, but defended the historical accuracy of the book nevertheless.
Comments:
1. Kosinski couldn't have responded to the biography written by Siedlecka as it was released in 1993, 2 years after Kosinski's death.
:: I doubt in it. I personally read the book in the high school around 1984, advised by Polish language teacher and my peers. I had impression that critics of Kosinski were under ban, but I might have been wrong. Cautious 03:01, 29 Dec 2004 (UTC)
replies: text: *I've double-checked it, Cautious -- I am absolutely certain that in Poland "The Painted Bird" was officially published for the first time in 1989 () and Siedlecka's biography of Kosinski in 1994 () (I had made a little mistake though, I thought that it was 1993, but it definitely wasn't earlier than that).  Maybe in 1984 you read someone else's illegal essay on Kosinski? Or maybe a Siedlecka's illegally distributed draft? In Communist Poland banned books often circulated underground. You had an amazing teacher, Cautious, if he recommended such a book to you. If it was indeed Siedlecka's underground publication, it's surprising to me that Siedlecka collected information or wrote about Kosinski as early as 1984. Anyway, my main point is that the "average Polish Joe" heard about "The Painted Bird" in 1989, after Communism collapsed, and the first open discussion in the Polish free media took place in 1994, after Siedlecka's official publication. A Polish translation of the James Sloan's biography was published in 1997 (). Adam, 19:36, 15 Jan 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: In matter of fact, Kosinski paid visit to Poland in 1988 and then he signed the contract to publish some of his books, namely "The steps" published in 1988 and "Painted bird" in 1989. One can call that time decay of communism and it was obviously the time, when every ally of ruling communists was welcomed. I cannot recall exact year when I read it, but maybe it was in 1989. And obviously nobody heard about Siedlecka then. Moreover, for Polish reader the attributed location of the "Painted bird" was somewhere in Bellorussia (some forests in Eastern Europe). Cautious 23:15, 17 Jan 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Joanna Siedlecka's expose biography of Jerzy Kosinski 

message: 1. "The painted Bird" has been probably printed illegally in Poland before 1989.
2. I belive Kosinski lived with his parents during the war by an another family.
Elie Wiesel should maybe be mentioned in "Friendships". Drsruli (talk) 04:09, 9 June 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  Two comments 

message: i think the article should include the fact kosinski was due to be at the sharon tate house the night the manson family murders took place. there is a huge section regarding that night in one of his novels - blind date - and such an experience has echoed in his works throughout his life regarding excessive violence.
any suggestions?
I agree.  If someone thinks that it is suspect, they can then add support for that suspicion.--Epeefleche 23:27, 13 November 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Polanski - Manson connection 

message: hi ...can anyone add a photo?  tx.
--Epeefleche 08:43, 29 August 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: photo

message: The article about Kosinski is getting increasingly one-sided as the time goes on. It is turning into an attempt made by just one Wikipedian, Epeefleche, at choking the voice of reason. Sources are grossly omitted in his new editions and other facts are conspicuously removed by him. Poeticbent 22:32, 13 November 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Prior to the most recent edits, this article did indeed have horrendous POV problems, in that it was relentlessly and nonsensically negative in tone.  The Village Voice accusations that claimed Kosiński did not in fact write his books were simply presented as absolute fact.  Now that the accusastions have been balanced by reliable sources who refute the allegations, the article seems NPOV.  The controversy is fully detailed, with both sides of the argument presented. I will remove the tag.-Hal Raglan 19:58, 14 November 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Sounding alarm 

message: The article has just been cleaned up with considerable effort. Anybody who'd like to see it being cleaned up even more should discuss it here in a specific way  rather than tagging it again in total silence. Please read Cleanup#Specific_issues: "Some tags have alternate versions that apply to situations of greater specificity." --Poeticbent  talk  23:24, 15 February 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Cleanup 

message: There seem to be an edit war going on recently. Could the participants explain what they are disputing here? For now I'll just note that Iwo Cyprian Pogonowski, while an amateur historian, is an acknowledge academic and his works on Eastern European history have received positive reviews by specialists (ex. here by Aleksander Gella). I am not sure about other sites; the reliablity of each disputed reference should be discussed here - however certainly the article version I read just now in 'The Painted Bird' seems to be rather biased towards pro-Kosinski and thus not NPOV.-- Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus | talk  21:17, 11 April 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: I'd also suggest simply leaving a short summary here and moving excessive details to The Painted Bird (novel).-- Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus | talk  03:19, 13 April 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: April controversy

message: I made a redirection from Josek Lewinkopf to this page. May I suggest that you also highlight name Josek Lewinkopf in boldface as part of the first line. Britlawyer 02:03, 14 April 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Redirect 

message: :The following discussion is an archived discussion of the proposal. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. No further edits should be made to this section. 
Wikipedia:Naming conventions provides that article names should be "what the majority of English speakers would most easily recognize". For example, see the article entitled Bill Clinton (not "William Jefferson Clinton"). In this case, we have an individual who was born in Poland but achieved notability as an English-language writer in the United States. He wrote using the name "Jerzy Kosinski" as on this book cover. Among English-speakers, he is known as "Jerzy Kosinski", not "Jerzy Kosiński". If there is no objection I will perform the move. --Mathew5000 00:58, 26 April 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: I just checked the links used as references and every one that is in English spels the subject's name "Kosinski" with no diacritical.(One possible exception is aan AOL member page which probably doesn't belong, and which uses the diacritical just once. ).  Since it is apparently the spelling preferred by the subject, and the one which is overwhelmingly used in English, I support the move. -Will Beback · † · 01:10, 26 April 2007 (UTC)

text: The U.S. Library of Congress lists him under Kosinski, with no accent. I agree with the rationale for a move to an accentless form. Joeldl 07:47, 30 April 2007 (UTC)

text: The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the proposal.  Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.
This article has been renamed from Jerzy Kosiński to Jerzy Kosinski as the result of a move request. --Stemonitis 17:46, 1 May 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Requested move 

message: Who butchered the quote about "Steps" said by David Foster Wallace? You took out the opinion and left only the description. Opinions are not disallowed on Wikipedia if we are quoting someone else whom we cite. Foster Wallace is a giant of modern fiction and he is illuminating his high praise of another author-- I think it's clearly relevant. Please leave it.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Chicopac (talk • contribs) 17:23, 31 March 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: I know the matter is settled since my edit has been here a long time, but I also want to mention--David Foster Wallace's quote where he says Steps is "better than everything else he ever did, combined" was clearly a commentary about the accusations of plagiarism by Kosinski, and that even if everything else he ever wrote was faked, this is enough, making the quote even more relevant. Chicopac (talk)  —Preceding undated comment added 22:56, 22 April 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Wallace on Kosinski 

message: Editor, I think you need to re-think your analysis of the Being There. Your description completely overlooks the fundamental point of the story; the satire of the US media was only a sub-plot, a means to a greater end. The story was a statement on how we humans perceive and actually create reality through our own subjective lenses, which was nicely summed up with the last line heard in the film; "...because life... is a state of mind."
The theme was organized religion vs. pure, simple beingness.
Chance the gardener, like Jesus Christ, was completely misunderstood by his peers. What people couldn't understand or explain, they simply made up in their own minds, and their illusions became "the truth." Like Jesus, Chance simply was, no more no less. Simple, without deception, just "being there." It was a deceptive and convoluted world that could not understand this simplicity. Another visual in the film that underscored Kosinski's likening of Chance to Jesus was when we see Chance walking on water at the end of the film, in case anyone missed this message throughout the story.
Peter Litwin
11/15/2010  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 204.136.108.21 (talk) 23:25, 15 November 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Main point or theme of Being There overlooked. 

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thread_title:  Copyright problem 

message: He is Polish and American. He is also Jewish and is in the category Polish Jews.  Is there a reason he is not in the American Jews category or can I add him?Anibar E (talk) 03:34, 7 October 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Category: American Jews 

message: Quick failed for WP:POLAND due to insufficient inline citations. --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here 08:10, 6 May 2013 (UTC)
thread_title: B-class review

message: Making any kind of reference to the Pogonowski column is offensive and against Wikipedia policy. It should be removed immediately, and if those involved with it change it back, I think it should be reported to the quality control elements. There is no room to be using such an anti-Semetic, unsourced, uncredited, internet hit piece to attack a major 20th Century author. 
It's a big project though and so I would like help. Anyone willing to join me? I could, for instance, bring in the esteemed literary critic Lawrence Langer's writing on The Painted Bird to reference that book, and possibly find more on his life. I'd just like some help.
--Robert Waalk (talk) 05:04, 2 August 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  Serious Problems Throughout, but first and foremost is Ivo Pogonowski 

message: shouldn't the article make mention of the Second City TV parody of Kinsinski's claim that he always looked for hinding places wherever he went, a hide and seek gameshow-like parody called, as I recollect, "Let's Find Jerzy"?
15:58, 19 December 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  Second City TV parody of Kosinski 

message: I read the Wikipedia article on the book "Being There" was supposedly plagiarized from. They're really quite different. This entire article is far too strong on the supposed plagiarism and ghost writer claims, especially when you consider the high profile sources that have defended Kosinski.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 73.31.52.185 (talk) 20:50, 26 January 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Plagarism 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: Of course I'm not mentioning any of this in the article since it's my own personal recollection, but I was a freshman residing at Alice Lloyd Hall at the University of Michigan in the fall of 1968 when Jerzy Kosiński stayed there for two weeks as part of the university's "Writers in Residence" program (Kurt Vonnegut was the Writer in Residence the next semester, in the spring of 1969).
While he was there he had meals in the residence dining hall with us students and he would discuss different topics, including how when he came to America he would call "Information" and talk to the directory assistance operators to practice his English. Embram (talk) 04:20, 27 September 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  Writer in Residence at University of Michigan 

message: I removed the section of "The Painted Bird" which cites Iwo Pogonowski's self-public essay. There is zero information about newspapers or articles the villagers voiced their complaints in upon reading the translated version of the novel (which was only published in Poland in 1989), and a search on Google seems to indicate that Pogonowski is the only person who mentions them even reading it in the first place. Finally, a cursory look at that article alone reveals the shameless repeating of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories ("Radical Jews used [pornography] in the past to weaken morally and politically the majority in the countries of their residence", which seems to me like the author is using the controversy around the novel to push anti-Semitism in general. Midnight-Blue766 (talk) 06:23, 13 June 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  Removed Iwo Pogonowski Source

message: Vanity Fair magazine has a feature article in their December 2023 issue about Jerzy Kosiński, written by Wayne Lawson, who co-edited two of the author's books. Those interested in this topic might find it worth reading. Siberian Husky (talk) 23:15, 24 November 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  Article in December 2023 issue of Vanity Fair magazine about Jerzy Kosiński 

message: It should be clearly separated into criticism related to plagiarism allegations, which seem disputed, and the ones about claiming a fictional story as part of his autobiography, which AFAIK are not. Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here 12:08, 25 February 2024 (UTC)
thread_title:  Criticism section is a mess