How would the life of Jesus be told through the eyes of his mother? How can literature help us understand history and the nature of identity?
Maciej Hen was born in 1955 in Warsaw. He graduated from the Cinematography Department at the Film School in Łódź. For years he has been trying his hand at diverse activities, from music to all fields of journalism and television lighting design. As a prose writer, Hen has published four novels so far: Według niej (2004, DUE; the English translation, According to Her, published in 2022 by Holland House Books, was shortlisted to the EBRD Literary Prize in 2023), Solfatara (2015, W.A.B., 2016 Gombrowicz Prize and shortlisted for the Norwid Prize and the Angelus Prize), Deutsch dla średnio zaawansowanych, Segretario and one non-fiction book, Beatlesi w Polsce (The Beatles in Poland).
THE CREATIVE PROCESS
Growing up in a Jewish household in Poland, you've mentioned being immersed in a Christian tradition through European culture. How did this unique cultural perspective shape your decision to retell the story of Jesus from a Jewish viewpoint? And what challenges did you encounter in navigating this delicate balance?
MACIEJ HEN
My background when I was young was, as a European Greco-Christian, I was aware of some of my Jewish history, but writing According to Her, I tried to imagine the issue of someone considered to be a Messiah or prophet by some Jewish followers. What could be the genuine story of something that really happened or was told? This led me to write a realistic novel about how it could have been. And I wondered who could be a better narrator of the story of Jesus than his own Jewish mother.
THE CREATIVE PROCESS
Your father is the author Józef Hen, now in his hundredth year. His life and photographs are also the subject of one of your documentaries. What were the experiences of your family during World War II?
HEN
I can tell you the story of my parents. They both lost most of their families during World War II, and they survived because they were quick enough to escape to the East, where there was no paradise either, but at least there was a chance to survive. So my father lost his father, one of his sisters, the sister's husband, and his brother. But the brother disappeared in Soviet Union, nobody knows how, but the others were murdered by Nazis. And as for my mother, she lost almost everybody. She had six siblings, and she managed only to take one of her sisters while evacuating to the East. So five of her siblings, both parents, and grandmother, all died in the death camp in Belzec.
THE CREATIVE PROCESS
How has your background in cinema and making documentaries influenced your fiction?
HEN
People often tell me that my way of telling stories seems cinematic to them. Well, if that's so, I'm really happy. I just describe a scene the way I see it in my mind's eye, and everything comes up ready to use: props, colors, lighting, movements, close-ups, wide shots, sound effects, music, and dialogue. But I don't realize that it's cinema. For me, it's just writing.
THE CREATIVE PROCESS
What are your reflections on the special character of Polish literature and the arts?
HEN
Polish intellectuals, artists, and writers are still in that never-ending argument on Polish history in terms of why Poland lost its independence after being some kind of empire and what the injustices and historical harms were. The traumas of World War II and the period before WWII, the Communist period, and everything of that nature are topics of argument that are really present in Polish culture, creativity, and literature. On the other hand, contemporary Polish literature is very much form-oriented, not so much content-oriented, except for some topics focusing on the peasant background of the society or discussing injustices the peasant class suffered, and that's it. But generally, contemporary Polish literature is very much language-oriented. There is a race towards experimentalism to be observed. And I, quite frankly, try to be beyond all of that because I'm a content-oriented type of writer. Of course, the language issues are important for me, too, but not dominant.
THE CREATIVE PROCESS
As you reflect on the future, the importance of the arts and education, what would you like young people to know, preserve, and remember?
HEN
I would like them to know and preserve everything, really, but let's be realistic. I would recommend them to explore things that pass the test of time. Although it's never certain what passes the test of time, at least Shakespeare is something certain, isn't it? And things like that, I would like to encourage them to explore classics and younger classics. And as much of the contemporary as they are able to.
