Jan Kott

American critic and scholar

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July 16, 2026

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Jan Kott was a Polish-American critic and scholar known for his influential interpretations of William Shakespeare. Writing in the post-World War II era, Kott presented Shakespeare as a dramatist of the absurd, emphasizing themes of skepticism, ridicule, and anti-authoritarianism. His deeply ironic perspective on political processes significantly impacted filmmakers and theatre directors, such as Peter Brook. Kott's work resonated with academic critics who were navigating a modern world increasingly shaped by image-making and the manipulations of new media.1

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William Shakespeare
New interpretive approaches
Jan Kott, writing in the disillusioning aftermath of World War II and from an eastern European perspective, reshaped Shakespeare as a dramatist of the absurd, skeptical, ridiculing, and antiauthoritarian. Kott’s deeply ironic view of the political process impressed filmmakers and theatre directors such as Peter…
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Jan Kott, writing in the disillusioning aftermath of World War II and from an eastern European perspective, reshaped Shakespeare as a dramatist of the absurd, skeptical, ridiculing, and antiauthoritarian. Kott’s deeply ironic view of the political process impressed filmmakers and theatre directors such as Peter…
Read More

Polish literature
New trends in poetry and drama
…Jan Błoński, Andrzej Kijowski, and Jan Kott, who immigrated to the United States and whose Szkice o Szekspirze (1961; Shakespeare, Our Contemporary) was widely translated and discussed. Leopold Tyrmand, a successful novelist, also immigrated to the United States, where he published a series of essays highly critical of communism.
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…Jan Błoński, Andrzej Kijowski, and Jan Kott, who immigrated to the United States and whose Szkice o Szekspirze (1961; Shakespeare, Our Contemporary) was widely translated and discussed. Leopold Tyrmand, a successful novelist, also immigrated to the United States, where he published a series of essays highly critical of communism.
Read More