
Kosiński was born Josef Lewinkopf to Jewish parents in Łódź, Poland. As a child during World War II, he lived in central Poland under a false identity his father gave him to use, Jerzy Kosiński. A Roman Catholic priest issued him a forged baptismal certificate. The Kosiński family survived the Holocaust thanks to local villagers, who offered assistance to Jewish Poles often at great personal risk (the penalty for assisting Jews in Nazi-occupied Poland was death). Kosiński's father received help not only from Polish town leaders and churchmen, but also from individuals such as Marianna Pasiowa, a member of the Polish underground network helping Jews to evade capture. The family lived openly in Dąbrowa Rzeczycka near Stalowa Wola, and attended church in nearby Wola Rzeczycka, obtaining support from villagers in Kępa Rzeczycka. They were sheltered temporarily by a Catholic family in Rzeczyca Okrągła. The young Jerzy even served as an altar boy in a local church. After World War II, Kosiński remained with his parents in Poland, moved to Jelenia Góra, and earned degrees in history and political science at the University of Łódź. He worked as an assistant in Institute of History and Sociology at the Polish Academy of Sciences. In 1957, he emigrated to the United States, creating a fake foundation which supposedly sponsored him; he later claimed that the letters from eminent Polish communist authorities guaranteeing his loyal return, which were needed for anyone leaving the communist country at that time, had all been forged by him. After taking odd jobs to get by, such as driving a truck, Kosiński graduated from Columbia University, and in 1965 he became an American citizen. He received grants from Guggenheim Fellowship in 1967, Ford Foundation in 1968, and the American Academy in 1970, which allowed him to write a political non-fiction book, opening new doors of opportunity. In the States he became a lecturer at Yale, Princeton, Davenport University, and Wesleyan. In 1962 Kosiński married Mary Hayward Weir who was 10 years his senior. They were divorced in 1966. Weir died in 1968 from brain cancer. Kosiński was left nothing in her will. He later fictionalized this marriage in his novel Blind Date speaking of Weir under pseudonym Mary-Jane Kirkland. Kosiński went on to marry Katherina "Kiki" von Fraunhofer, a marketing consultant and descendant of Bavarian aristocracy. They met in 1968. Death Kosiński suffered from multiple illnesses towards the end of his life, and was under attack from journalists who alleged he was a plagiarist. By the time he reached his late 50s, Kosiński was suffering from an irregular heartbeat as well as severe physical and nervous exhaustion. Kosiński committed suicide on May 3, 1991, by taking a fatal dose of barbiturates. His parting suicide note read: "I am going to put myself to sleep now for a bit longer than usual. Call it Eternity".
A harrowing story that follows the wanderings of a boy abandoned by his parents during World War II, The Painted Bird is a dark novel that examines the proximity of terror and savagery to innocence and love.
A modern classic now available from Grove Press, Being There is one of the most popular and significant works from a writer of international stature. It is the story of Chauncey Gardiner - Chance, an enigmatic but distinguished man who emerges from nowhere to become an heir to the throne of a Wall Street tycoon, a presidential policy adviser, and a media icon. Truly "a man without qualities," Chance's straightforward responses to popular concerns are heralded as visionary. But though everyone is quoting him, no one is sure what he's really saying. And filling in the blanks in his background proves impossible. Being There is a brilliantly satiric look at the unreality of American media culture that is, if anything, more trenchant now than ever.
Winner of the National Book Award for FictionFrom the esteemed author of the classics The Painted Bird and Being There comes this award-winning novel about one man's sexual and sensual experiences, the fabric from which his life has been woven.Jerzy Kosinski's classic vision of moral and sexual estrangement brilliantly captures the disturbing undercurrents of modern politics and culture. In this haunting novel, distinctions are eroded between oppressor and oppressed, perpetrator and victim, narcissism and anonymity. Kosinski portrays men and women both aroused and desensitized by an environment that disdains the individual and seeks control over the imagination in his unforgettable and immensely provocative work.
Blind Date is a spectacular and erotically charged psychological novel that shows Jerzy Kosinski, author of Being There and The Painted Bird, at the height of his power. George Levanter is an idea man, a small investor, an international playboy, and a ruthless deal-maker whose life is delivered in a series of scorching encounters, each more incredible than the last. From Moscow to Paris, from a Manhattan skyscraper to a California mass murder, Blind Date is a dizzying vision of life among the beautiful people and the thrill-seekers.
An agent known only as Tarden is a former operative of the mysterious security agency "the Service." He has erased himself from all dossiers and transcripts. Now a fugitive, he moves across the landscape free of identity, in search of adventure and intrigue. But Tarden is a man of many disguises, and he is alternately avenger and savior, judge and trickster, as he enters the lives of others, forcing them into the arena of his judgement. In Cockpit, Kosinski is at his most startling and powerful, stripping away pretension and illusions of security to reveal the source of real strength within.
A searing novel from a writer of international stature, The Devil Tree is a tale that combines the existential emptiness of Camus's The Stranger with the universe of international playboys, violence, and murder of Patricia Highsmith's The Talented Mr. Ripley. Jonathan Whalen's life has been determined from the start by the immense fortune of his father, a steel tycoon. Whalen's childlike delight in power and status mask a greater need, a desire to feel life intensely, through drugs, violence, sex, and attempts at meaningful connection with other people -- whether lovers or the memory of his dead parents. But the physical is all that feels real to him, and as he embarks on a journey to Africa with his godparents, Whalen's embrace of amoral thrill accelerates toward ultimate fulfillment. Now in a Grove Press paperback, Kosinski's classic, acclaimed as "an impressive novel ... it should confirm Jerzy Kosinki's position as one of our most significant writers" -- Newsweek "Savage ... [Whalen is] a foolproof, timeless American character." -- Mary Ellin Barrett, Cosmopolitan
Jerzy Kosinski's best-selling novel Pinball, which he wrote for George Harrison, is a rock 'n' roll mystery centered on a superstar named Goddard who has, despite his success, managed to keep his identity a secret, even from his closest friends. But a beautiful young woman, obsessed with finding Goddard, stalks him relentlessly, driven by a secret goal that justifies all means.Ricocheting with humor and bursting with erotic intensity, Pinball is a game as intricate, unpredictable, suspenseful, and complex as life.
William Kennedy has written in The Washington Post that "the Kosinski hero is unique in literature, as recognizable as the Hemingway hero used to be". Passion Play is the story of Fabian, Kosinski's most romantic and driven hero. A modern knight-errant, he roams America in his custom-built VanHome, his refuge, transport, and stable for his two horses. His livelihood is polo -- not the millionaire's team sport, but the life-threatening duel of clashing horsemen. The prize is more than money and honor; it is the awareness of having drawn upon every resource of body and mind, of man and horse in danger. Passion Play is a masterpiece of violence and seduction, love and loss, by one of the world's greatest writers.
Explores the life of Norbert Kosky, a fifty-five-year-old Holocaust survivor, immigrant to America, and successful but tortured writer in search of spiritual order and freedom
Jerzy Kosinski is one of the most important and original writers of our times. Passing By serves as his legacy, a collection of writings that answers many questions about his work and offers a revealing and provocative self-portrait by an author whose life was shrouded in enigma.The man who emerges here has a passion for sport, a quirky sense of fun, an idiosyncratic range of acquaintances stretching from Pope John Paul II to Warren Beatty, and an abiding love of secrets, conundrums, and fantasies. But first and foremost, as he demonstrates in major essays on his novels The Painted Bird and Steps, Kosinski is a powerful, incomparable literary artist.
“[This] new collection of Jerzy Kosinski’s interviews and speeches reveals an Everyman who worked on his own terms . . . A most welcome body of texts that elucidates a rather mysterious persona.” —Tablet Oral Kosinski as Storyteller is a collection of interviews, lectures, and transcriptions of media appearances from the legendary literary figure, Jerzy Kosinski. Compiled by his late widow, Kiki, most of the pieces here are published for the first time. These texts bring sharper focus to the themes in his works, making this strikingly erratic individual more accessible. They provide an uncensored portrait of the writer plagued by scandal, whose authenticity was challenged by fierce accusations of plagiarism regarding his seminal novel, The Painted Bird—suspicion that shadowed his career. Oral Pleasure reveals Kosinski as a truly genuine, gifted man of letters. The material covers different aspects of Kosinski’s eventful life, from his thoughts on Poland and the Holocaust to his experiences with acting and television. He expounds on the difficulties of writing under a totalitarian government and the importance of freedom of speech. He discusses the fine line between fiction and autobiography, the prominent role sex played in his writing and life, the philosophical importance of violence in his novels, and his controversial statements on Jewish identity. This collection offers new insight into Kosinski’s renowned work, portraying a brilliant storyteller behind the public figure. “Containing more than 60 documents from Kosinski’s career, the book flows like a conversation . . . thanks to the strength of Kosinski’s voice, [it is] coherent and recognizably whole. . . . Even without prior knowledge of his work, Kosinski rewards those willing to engage with his stories.” —Publishers Weekly
Joseph Novak (alias of Jerzy Kosiński) through a compilation of interviews, questionnaires, and observations presents the reader with a picture of Soviet society on all levels, social, cultural and economic. He will get to know the Russian citizen, his home, surroundings, place of work, his psychology, his prejudices, his education, his welfare and his family. Novak does not attempt to interpret his findings-he lets the quotations speak for themselves. If he does not provide the reader with an interpretive framework, he does establish the basis for an understanding of a society foreign to our own- and this is the value of the book. Novak presents the Soviet Union not as Communist, but as Russian, with its history of authoritarianism and stringency.... (from Kirkusreviews)
Dieser düstere Roman hat Millionen Leser auf der ganzen Welt erschüttert.Irgendwo im Osten Europas, während der Zweite Weltkrieg Um ihn vor den Nazis zu schützen, wird ein kleiner jüdischer Junge zu einer alten Frau aufs Land gegeben. Kurz darauf stirbt sie und der Junge bleibt allein zurück. Als er durch die zerfetzte Welt irrt, erlebt er die Gräuel des Krieges – aber auch die Perversion und Brutalität der Soldaten und der abergläubischen Landbevölkerung.Der Junge verstummt und hat sich, als der Krieg endet, für immer verändert.Der Weltbestseller in neuer Übersetzung von Andreas Decker.Kosinski schildert das Triebhafte und Abgründige im Menschen, aber auch die tiefe Vereinsamung unseres Daseins in einer klaren Prosa. Ein Meisterwerk.
by Jerzy Kosiński
Rating: 5.0 ⭐
W książce opisano wpływ cyberprzestępczości na szeroko rozumiane bezpieczeństwo, przedstawiono definicje, klasyfikacje i przepisy prawne penalizujące te zachowania. Opisano najczęściej współcześnie obserwowane objawy cyberprzestępczości. Zwrócono uwagę na znaczenie, możliwości pozyskiwania i badania dowodów cyfrowych, które są najważniejszym elementem w zakresie zwalczania przestępczości, w związku z którą sprawcy lub pokrzywdzeni posługiwali się z nowoczesnymi technologiami teleinformatycznymi. Opisano działania podejmowane w wymiarze międzynarodowym i krajowym w zakresie zwalczania cyberprzestępczości. Zwrócono uwagę na trendy cyberprzestępczości.
Barcelona. 21 cm. 286 p. Encuadernación en tapa blanda de editorial ilustrada. Kosinski, Jerzy 1933-1991. Traducción del inglés por Pilar Giralt Gorina. Traducción Pinball .. Este libro es de segunda mano y tiene o puede tener marcas y señales de su anterior propietario. 8432248045
by Jerzy Kosiński
Leather Binding on Spine and Corners with Golden Leaf Printing on round Spine (extra customization on request like complete leather, Golden Screen printing in Front, Color Leather, Colored book etc.) Reprinted in 2018 with the help of original edition published long back [1962]. This book is printed in black & white, sewing binding for longer life, Printed on high quality Paper, re-sized as per Current standards, professionally processed without changing its contents. As these are old books, we processed each page manually and make them readable but in some cases some pages which are blur or missing or black spots. If it is multi volume set, then it is only single volume, if you wish to order a specific or all the volumes you may contact us. We expect that you will understand our compulsion in these books. We found this book important for the readers who want to know more about our old treasure so we brought it back to the shelves. Hope you will like it and give your comments and suggestions. - English, Pages 372. EXTRA 10 DAYS APART FROM THE NORMAL SHIPPING PERIOD WILL BE REQUIRED FOR LEATHER BOUND BOOKS. COMPLETE LEATHER WILL COST YOU EXTRA US$ 25 APART FROM THE LEATHER BOUND BOOKS. {FOLIO EDITION IS ALSO AVAILABLE.} Complete No third path by Joseph Novak. 1962 Kosinski Jerzy
by Jerzy Kosiński
by Jerzy Kosiński