Christopher Kasparek

Life

Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, to Polish Armed Forces veterans of World War II, Kasparek lived several years in London, England, before moving with his family in 1951 to the United States. In 1966 he graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, where he had studied Polish literature with the subsequent 1980 Nobel laureate Czesław Miłosz. In 1978 Kasparek received an M.D. degree from Warsaw Medical School, in Poland.

Writer

Kasparek has edited and translated books by the historian of philosophy, Władysław Tatarkiewicz (On Perfection, 1979; A History of Six Ideas: an Essay in Aesthetics, 1980); the military historian Władysław Kozaczuk (Enigma: How the German Machine Cipher Was Broken, and How It Was Read by the Allies in World War Two, 1984—"the Bible" on the Polish foundations of World War II Enigma decryption); Poland's greatest novelist, Bolesław Prus (Pharaoh, 2nd, revised edition, 2001); and other writers and scholars.

His translation of the Constitution of May 3, 1791 (ca. 1985), since republished in numerous venues, is available (corrected and augmented with the Free Royal Cities Act) on Wikisource.

His translations of verse include selected Fables and Parables by Ignacy Krasicki.

Historian

Kasparek has made notable contributions to the history of Enigma decryption and has published ground-breaking papers on Bolesław Prus and Prus's novel Pharaoh.

See also

• Biuro Szyfrów
• Marian Rejewski
• Bolesław Prus
• Pharaoh (historical novel by Prus)
• "A Legend of Old Egypt" (short story by Prus)
• "Mold of the Earth" (micro-story by Prus)
• "The Living Telegraph" (micro-story by Prus)
• "Shades" (micro-story by Prus)
• The Most General Life Ideals (book by Prus)
• Constitution of May 3, 1791
• Fables and Parables by Ignacy Krasicki
• History of philosophy in Poland
• History of creativity
• Perfection
• Translation
• Physician writer

References

• "Kasparek, Christopher," Who's Who in Polish America, 1st edition, 1996–1997, New York, Bicentennial Publishing Corp., 1996, ISBN 0-7818-0010-1, p. 186.