„Kartoteka”. Autograph of the Drama. Brulion Edition

Tadeusz Różewicz is a well-known and highly regarded Polish writer who wrote in his home country after World War II. His books have been translated into several languages (including German, English, French and Hindi), he excelled in poetry, poetic prose and drama. "Kartoteka" (eng. the Card Index) is his playwriting debut. The work has features of the theatre of the absurd, in which realistic elements interweave with surreal ones. The main character has multiple names, he lies in his bed for most of the time, while his room is visited by other characters. In the play the dead appear as the living who remind the protagonist of the past.
In this piece, the author deals with the themes of World War II, Polish partisan units and his own experience. Thus, the play revolves around the question of identity after having experienced the trauma of war as well as the evaluation of history.
"Kartoteka" belongs to the major dramatic works in 20th century Polish literature. The play was published in a censored version in “Dialog” in 1960, but the full version was not published until 1972 in Sztuki teatralne volume. The drama has been frequently staged in Poland, while its foreign premiere took place on 13 January 1961 in New York at the Unicorn Theater. The manuscript of "Kartoteka" consists of a thirty-four page notebook glued along the top edge and sixteen loose pages. The manuscript features numerous deletions and corrections made by the author’s hand. This is a preliminary draft (rough copy) version of the play.
Text in Polish.