Slawomir Mrozek (b. 1930)

Polish dramatist, prose writer, and cartoonist, whose works explore alienation, abuse of power, conformity, and the limitations of human freedom under a totalitarian system. Mrozek often uses surrealistic humor and grotesque situations to reveal the distorted beliefs of his characters. His most famous plays include Tango (1964), a multileveled family saga, and Emigranci (1974), about the collapse of illusions. After spending 33 years abroad, Mrozek returned to Poland in 1997.

The Elephant is a collection of devastating satirical sketches by a Polish writer, and it has been called everything from "a short marvel" to "a brilliant literary coup."

Mrozek takes deadly aim at the bureaucrats in his own society and, with buoyant and delicious fantasy, makes the absurd seem real and the real absurd. More than a political commentator, as all good satirists he addressed himself to man's foibles everywhere. His tales go to the heart of all that is false in modern life, both East and West.

"Mrozek's brief fables are like Kafka, but they are funnier and recorded at one remove from life instead of two."

- Adrian Mitchell, The Spectator (London)