Tadeusz Peiper (3 May 1891 – 10 November 1969) was a Polish poet, art critic, theoretician of literature and one of the precursors of the

avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...

movement in Polish poetry. Born to a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

family, Peiper converted to

Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

as a young man and spent several years in

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. Marci Shore
''Caviar and Ashes: A Warsaw Generation's Life and Death in Marxism, 1918–1968.''
''

Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day and Clarence Day, grandsons of Benjamin Day, and became a department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and ope ...

'' 2006, . He was a co-founder of the ''Awangarda krakowska'' ('Kraków Avant-garde') group of writers.Nina Kolesnikoff
''...Evolution from Futurism to Socialist Realism'', p. 37.
'' Wilfrid Laurier University Press'' 1982, . In 1921, in the

Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 7 October 1918 and 6 October 1939. The state was established in the final stage of World War I ...

, he founded the ('Railroad switch') monthly, devoted mostly to avant-garde movements in contemporary poetry. Although short-lived, the magazine (issued until 1923 and then briefly reactivated between 1926 and 1927), paved the way for young poets of the ''Awangarda krakowska'' group, among them

Julian Przyboś Julian Przyboś (5 March 1901 – 6 October 1970) was a Polish poet, essayist and translator, one of the most important poets of the Kraków Avant-Garde. Life Przyboś was born in Gwoźnica near Strzyżów to a peasant family. From 1912, h ...

, Jan Brzękowski and Jalu Kurek. Peiper also published three notable collections of poems, which were among the most notable pieces of ''constructivist'' Polish poetry. As an artist, Peiper believed that a writer should resemble a skilled craftsman, able to carefully plan his words. He coined the ''"3 x M"'' slogan ''Miasto, Masa, Maszyna'' ('City, Mass, Machine'), one of the

meme A meme (; ) is an idea, behavior, or style that Mimesis, spreads by means of imitation from person to person within a culture and often carries symbolic meaning representing a particular phenomenon or theme. A meme acts as a unit for carrying c ...

s of Polish poetry of the 1920s. Soon after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

he wrote for ''

Tygodnik Powszechny ''Tygodnik Powszechny'' (, ''The Common Weekly'') is a Polish Roman Catholic weekly magazine, published in Kraków, which focuses on social, cultural and political issues. It was established in 1945 under the auspices of Cardinal Adam Stefan Sap ...

'' about

Adam Mickiewicz Adam Bernard Mickiewicz (24 December 179826 November 1855) was a Polish poet, dramatist, essayist, publicist, translator and political activist. He is regarded as national poet in Poland, Lithuania and Belarus. He also largely influenced Ukra ...

. ''Tygodnik Powszechny. Kalendarium''
Retrieved October 11, 2011. Until his retirement, Peiper worked for Jerzy Borejsza.Marci Shore
''Caviar and Ashes'', p. 160.
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Peiper, Tadeusz 1891 births 1969 deaths Converts to Roman Catholicism from Judaism 20th-century Polish Jews 20th-century Polish poets Polish magazine founders