In June 1927, the supreme Polish fantastist, Stefan Grabinski (1887-1936), took a rare excursion outside of his country in a planned Italian itinerary that was to include Rome, Naples, Capri and even Sicily. The first stop on his trip was Venice. Here he met a fellow Pole, Stefania Kalinowska. Little is known about his relationship with Kalinowska, but what is known is that Grabinski returned to Venice, after stopping in Rome, and spent the rest of his vacation with her in the city of canals, foot bridges and ornate architecture. Grabinski did admit to certain autobiographical features in "Passion," which he began and finished in Venice, and it's very probable that he saw, and investigated, someone who was the basis for one of his most memorable characters, Gina Vamparone. As to the romantic entanglements found in the story, it is up to the reader to imagine what the reality may have been in Grabinski's life. Freed by the beautiful and languid atmosphere of Venice, "Passion" became Grabinski's longest short prose work. The novelette would become the lead story in his Passion collection of five stories, published three years later and centered around theme of obsessive love. As is typical in Grabinski's stories, strange elements enter into the lives of his characters, and "Passion" is no exception, making the story one of his most intriguing and haunting works. Born in London, translator Miroslaw Lipinski currently resides in New York City, where he is working on a massive edition of Grabinski's stories for Centipede Press' "Masters of the Weird Tale" series. His Grabinski translations have appeared in the collections: The Dark Domain, The Motion Demon, and On the Hill of Roses.
About the Author: Stefan Grabinski (1887-1936) is often referred to as "The Polish Poe," but his works exhibit a trajectory of being impactingly original, entering into what he called psychofantasy or metafantasy. Grabinski explored the mysteries of life and human nature in the fiction he wrote. Much of his work deals with such themes as the power of thought, the vital energy of life, and sexuality. His characters tend to be mavericks and misfits, intellectually and psychologically intense. But even these attributes do not guarantee salvation. For those who are naively complacent, the situation is even more perilous. Though he was regularly published in Poland and received attention for his train collection, Demon ruchu (The Motion Demon), Grabinski remained a marginal figure in his native land and was not part of any fashionable literary school or clique. Upon his death in 1936 (from tuberculosis), he was almost completely forgotten. In the late 1950s, light began to shine again on his work, spearheaded by Professor Artur Hutnikiewicz's literary study, Tworczosc literacka Stefana Grabinskiego, and a 294-page collection of Grabinski stories published by Czytelnik. In 1975 renowned science fiction author Stanislaw Lem, an admirer of Grabinski, would edit his own edition of Grabinski's stories. The late 1980s saw the publication of several Grabinski volumes in German translation, and in 1993 Dedalus Ltd published the first English-translated Grabinski collection, The Dark Domain. Since then, there has been a gradual international appreciation of his work. Grabinski is now being rightfully recognized as one of the most unique voices in supernatural fiction.