Polish literature. Polish books Polish classical literature

Under the socialist system, Polish fiction is developing successfully.

It uses the best traditions of the creative heritage of past centuries, the traditions of oral folk poetry and prose.

The origins of Polish literature lie in the distant past. The first literary monuments of the Polish lands were written in the X-XIII centuries. in Latin. Works written in Latin also predominated in the literature of the 14th-15th centuries, but during the Renaissance, the Polish language began to dominate in Polish writing. The progressive trend in Polish literature of this time was led by humanist writers and poets. Most of them were gentry by origin and expressed the interests of the progressive strata of the gentry class. The best representatives of Lola literature of the 15th-16th centuries. rose above the interests of their class, condemning social injustice and the brutal exploitation of the peasants.

Renaissance poets and writers often used oral folk art to create their works. They wrote in Polish, enriching and developing the Polish literary language. One of these progressive writers of the Renaissance was Mikolaj Rey (1505-1569). He created the first Polish satire in verse “A short conversation between three persons - a lord, a voit and a pleban” (a voit is a foreman, a pleban is a priest), a collection of poems “The Menagerie”, a prose work “The Mirror”, etc. Being a supporter of the Reformation, Rey spoke against the dominance of the Catholic clergy (drama “The Merchant”, etc.). The poems of the great national poet of Poland, Jan Kochanowski (1530-1584), imbued with deep humanism and patriotism, had a great public resonance at that time. Sebastian Fabian Klenovich (1545-1602), a tradesman by birth, was also a major democratic poet. In his poems, he expressed sympathy for the peasants, denounced the vices of the gentry and the clergy (poems “Moshna of Judas”, “Fleece”, etc.). Among Polish prose writers of the 16th century. Łukasz Górnicki (1527-1603) especially stood out. In 1566, his work “The Polish Courtier,” written in the form of a dialogue, was published in Krakow; it gives an idea of ​​the spoken language of the Polish nobles of that time and the influence on it of Latin, Czech, French, Italian and Spanish. An outstanding writer of the progressive socio-political trend in Polish literature of the 16th century, the ideologist of the humanistic movement in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski (1503-1572). In his treatises, he spoke out for the equality of classes before the law, criticized the ignorance of the gentry, and denounced the Catholic clergy (treatise “On the Supremacy of the Pope”, etc.). The famous Polish publicist Marcian Krowicki also spoke out against the Catholic clergy.

The progressive camp in Polish literature was opposed by the reactionary magnate-clerical camp. Its representatives opposed the Reformation in their works and extolled the Catholic Church. The most prominent writer of this camp was Piotr Skarga (1536-1612).

Polish literature of the Enlightenment era (second half of the 18th century) is characterized by two main trends: classicism (A. Narushevich, S. Trembecki, T. Hungarian) and sentimentalism (F. Karpinsky, F. Knyaznin).

In the second half of the 18th century. The works of the outstanding Polish writer Ignacy Krasicki (1735-1801), who was influenced by sentimentalism, were of great social importance. He truthfully depicted the life of the gentry and ridiculed the clergy. His poems are imbued with patriotism and love for the motherland (“Hymn of Love for the Motherland”, etc.). At the same time, the revolutionary poet Jakub Jasinski (1759-1794) advocated equality of classes, called on the people to fight tyranny, and criticized feudal society. After the defeat of the 1794 uprising, legionnaire poets 1 called on the people to continue the struggle for national independence. In 1797, one of them, Józef Wybicki (1747-1822), wrote the poem “Poland Has Not Yet Perished,” which was later set to music by an unknown composer and became the Polish national anthem.

The entire life and work of Adam Mickiewicz (1798-1855), the great poet of revolutionary romanticism, the national pride of the Polish people, were inseparable from the national liberation movement. His “Song of the Filarets”, “Ode to Youth” and other poems sound like a passionate call to fight for the liberation of the people. Mickiewicz’s work was favorably affected by his connections with the Russian Decembrists. In his dramatic poem “Dziady,” Mickiewicz advocates for a union of Polish and Russian revolutionaries, and portrays the Decembrist Bestuzhev as one of the heroes. In “Dziady,” the poet shows the suffering of the common people and castigates the arbitrariness of the tsarist authorities. The poet's freedom-loving dreams found expression in one of the episodes of the poem, where its hero frees his peasants and gives them land. Duty to the homeland, self-sacrifice in the name of its freedom constitute the ideological essence of Mickiewicz’s poems “Grazyna” and “Konrad Wallenrod”. Mitskevich's journalistic works are imbued with patriotism and love of freedom. Pope Gregory XVI forbade Catholics from reading the Books of the Polish People and Polish Pilgrimage written by Mickiewicz. The significance of Mickiewicz's work for the development of Polish literature is truly enormous.

During the Polish uprising of 1830, the talented romantic poet Juliusz Słowacki (1809-1849) spoke with patriotic poems “Kulik”, “Ode to Liberty”, “Song of the Lithuanian Legion”. He entered the history of Russian literature as the creator of revolutionary lyrics.

The leading revolutionary figure in Poland was the philosopher and literary critic Edward Dembowski (1822-1846), who died during the Krakow uprising of 1846. Together with the revolutionary poet Ryszard Berwiński (1819-1879), Dembowski took part in the publication of the magazine Tygodnik literacki" (“Literary Weekly”), around which democratic writers in Greater Poland were grouped. Dembowski was an opponent of nationalism and the class limitations of the gentry. He believed in the victory of the socialist system, but his socialism was utopian: Dembovsky pinned all his hopes on the peasant revolution.

The realistic writer Józef Ignacy Kraszewski (1812-1887) was associated with the national liberation movement in Poland. He dedicated the novels “Spy” and “Red Rose” to the heroes of the 1863 uprising, and in the novel “Child of the Old City” he truthfully depicted the Warsaw demonstrations of 1860-1861. Krashevsky is also widely known as the author of numerous historical novels (“Ancient Tradition”, “Zigmund’s Times”, etc.) and stories from peasant life (“Ulyana”, “The Hut Behind the Village”, etc.).

The national liberation movement, social problems and contradictions of Polish society were reflected in many works of Polish literature of critical realism. This direction began to develop in Poland in the second half of the 19th century. His biggest followers were Eliza Orzeszko, Boleslaw Prus and Henryk Sienkiewicz. The work of Eliza Orzeszko (1842-1910), a participant in the 1863 uprising, contributed greatly to the spread of progressive ideas among Polish readers. In her works, she described with great skill the life of peasants and small gentry, and revealed the vices of the ruling classes (“Above the Niemen”, “Boorish”, “Pan Graba”, etc.). Ozheshko spoke out for the equality of all nationalities (the novel “Meir Ezofovich”). But she was unable to go beyond the limits of liberal-bourgeois narrow-mindedness and considered the unity of the gentry and the people possible.

Social problems worried the outstanding Polish writer Boleslaw Prus (1845-1912). In his early stories, he often depicted the life of ordinary people: workers, artisans, peasants, and the working intelligentsia. In the novel “The Doll,” Prus showed the moral degradation of the gentry and the corrupting influence of capitalism on the destinies of people.

The work of Henryk Sienkiewicz (1846-1916) is contradictory and diverse. Many of Sienkiewicz's stories describe the life of oppressed peasants. In them he admired the talent of the common people. In other works, the same Sienkiewicz advocated a reactionary alliance between the gentry and the bourgeoisie (“The Polanecki Family”) and glorified Christianity (“Quo vadis”). The fame of a national writer was brought to Henryk Sienkiewicz by his patriotic novel “The Crusaders” about the heroic struggle of the Polish people against the expansion of German feudal lords.

The best works of the talented Polish writer of the second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries sounded like a revolutionary protest against the oppression of the poor people. Maria Konopnicka (1842-1910). At the same time, Stefan Żeromski (1864-1925) created his stories and novels. The poverty of the peasants, the hopelessness of the lives of “homeless” people, the fate of the intelligentsia (“Homeless”, “Doctor Peter”, etc.) - all this was reflected in his works. The novels of the realist writer Vladislav Reymont (1868-1925) attract readers with their truth in life and great artistic expressiveness. On their pages, the tragic events of the peasants’ struggle for land (“Muzhiki”) unfold, pictures of appalling poverty and exploitation of workers, and the contradictions of capitalist society are exposed. The hypocrisy of the bourgeoisie, its spiritual impoverishment and insatiable passion for money was masterfully shown by the writer Gabriela Zapolskaya (1860-1921) in the comedy “The Morals of Mrs. Dulskaya.” This comedy still remains topical and does not leave the stage of many theaters around the world.

Back in the 80s of the XIX century. Proletarian literature began to develop in Poland. The collection “What They Want”, published in Geneva, published poems by Polish revolutionaries and, in particular, “The Red Banner” by Boleslaw Chervensky (1851-1888). This poem, as well as “Warszawianka” by Wacław Święcicki and “Shackled Mazurka” by Ludwik Warszczki (1856-1889), became popular revolutionary songs. A major role in the rise of the revolutionary movement in Poland was played by the dissemination among the people of the journalistic works of the remarkable revolutionaries Felix Dzerzhinsky (1877-1926), Julian Marchlewski (1866-1925), and Rosa Luxemburg (1871-1919).

Non-realistic trends in Polish literature of the late 19th - early 20th centuries. were represented by poets and writers of the “Young Poland” group (S. Przybyszewski, Jan Kasprowicz, S. Wyspianski, etc.) - During the interwar twenty years, numerous groups of naturalist writers, surrealists, impressionists, symbolists, futurists, etc. emerged in Poland. The most significant of them were “Scamander”, “Chartak”, “Avangard” and “Quadriga”. Their composition was very varied. Along with the writers who subsequently joined the reactionary camp, they included, for example, future representatives of the realistic movement: Y. Tuvim (1894-1953), JI. Staff (1878-1957), J. Ivashkevich (born in 1894), etc. The great poet A. Slonimsky (born in 1895) was associated with the Scamander group, and B. was associated with Avangard. Yasensky (1901-1942). All these groups disintegrated under the influence of political and socio-economic factors (the fascisation of the country and the struggle of the Popular Front against it, the growth of the revolutionary movement of the proletariat, etc.).

Writers with democratic views, Zofia Nalkowska (1885-1954) and Maria Dąbrowski (b. 1892), appeared in the literary field of the 20s. At that time, the literary group “Three Salvos”, which received its name from a collection of three poets - Władysław Broniewski (1897-1962), Stanisław Ryszard Stande (1897-1940) and Witold Wandurski (1898-1938). In the interwar years, the first novels and stories by talented revolutionary writers of Poland, Wanda Wasilewska ("Earth in a Yoke", "Shape of the Day", "Homeland") and Leon Kruchkowski ("Hammer over the World", "Peacock Feathers", "Kordian and the Boor") appeared. , "Networks"). During the period of fascisation of the country, progressive poets and writers advocated the creation of the Popular Front. Many of them (V. Bronevsky, V. Vasilevskaya, L. Kruchkovsky, E. Putrament, etc.) signed the appeal, which called for supporting the united front of the Polish people’s struggle against fascism. They also took part in the anti-fascist congress of cultural workers in Lvov (1936). During the Nazi occupation, Polish writers L. Kruchkowski and I. Newerly did a lot of work among prisoners in the concentration camps where they themselves were located. M. Dombrovskaya and K. Brandys, whose work began during the war, worked in the underground organizations of the Resistance. V. Vasilevskaya, E. Putrament and L. Schonwald, who were in the Soviet Union during these years, took part in the creation of the Polish Army. In Poland itself, the patriotic poems of J. Tuwim, written in exile in the USA, were distributed.

After the liberation of the country from Hitler's occupation and the formation of the People's Republic, the transition of Polish literature to the position of socialist realism began. The struggle for new social tasks and the socialist content of literature covers the entire first post-war five-year period. In this struggle, party writers led the way, grouped around the magazine “Kuznitsa”. They criticized the literary trends of the interwar period (expressionism, aestheticism, pseudo-folk stylization, pseudo-classicism, etc.) and promoted the literature and art of socialist realism. But they underestimated the importance of the progressive traditions of the literary heritage for modern Polish literature, and this was their mistake.

At that time, the works of the progressive part of Polish writers were dominated by themes of anti-fascist struggle, revealing and exposing the social nature of fascism. Ivashkevich's short stories, Bronevsky's, Tuvim's, Yastrun's poems, Nalkowska's “Medallions” are dedicated to this. In 1949, an outstanding work of Polish drama was published - “The Germans” by L. Kruchkowski. This drama gained worldwide fame and contributed to the strengthening of friendly ties between the Polish and German peoples. Subsequently, it was staged on the stages of theaters in Poland, the USSR and other countries, and the German film studio DEFA based it on the film “The Story of a Family.” E. Andrzejewski’s novel “Ashes and Diamonds” also dates back to the first post-war five-year anniversary, which shows the tragedy of young people deceived during the war by the leaders of the nationalist underground.

At this time, advanced Polish writers considered one of their main tasks to be reflecting the struggle of revolutionaries and showing ideological conflicts in Polish society during the war and in the first post-war years. K. Brandys solved this problem with great skill in the cycle “Between Wars” (“Samson”, “Antigone”, “Troy - an open city”, “Man does not die”). The fierce class struggle that flared up in Poland after the end of the war is shown in L. Kruchkowski's drama "Retribution", and the social struggle in the interwar period is shown in E. Putramenta's book "Reality".

At the end of the 1940s, the theme of socialist construction began to occupy an increasing place in Polish literature. It receives further development in the second post-war five-year plan. However, the mistakes that were made in cultural policy during this period and often led to the replacement of ideological struggle with simple administration somewhat limited the creative possibilities of the followers of socialist realism in Polish literature. A formal understanding of the tasks of literature sometimes opened the way for works of little substance that do not reflect the conflicts of our time. But at the same time, books appeared that truthfully told about the growth of class consciousness of the working masses of Poland (“Notes” by JI. Rudnitsky), about their life in the past (“Diary from a pulp factory” by I. Neverly, the Russian translation of this book is called “Under Phrygian star") and ideological formation in the post-war years ("Citizens" by K. Brandys). And in the second five-year period, the poetry of Broniewski, Iwaszkiewicz, Staff, Jastrun and others continued to be heard in full voice. At this time, the poet K. Galczynski, a master of politically pointed satire and pathetic lyricism, gained recognition among a wide range of Polish readers.

In his works, he addresses such vitally important topics as the struggle to reconcile friendship between peoples, and denounces obscurantism, mysticism, and fideism. Galchinsky creates a satirical theater and revives the genre of folk spectacle in it.

The development of Polish literature reflected the changes that occurred in all areas of people's life under the influence of the decisions of the 20th Congress of the CPSU and the VIII Plenum of the Central Committee of the PUWP. The work of writers who raise in their works the problems of internationalism, the struggle for world peace, and who show a realistic picture of the new life of Polish workers (for example, in the story “A Wedding in the Village” by M. Dąbrowski) was highly appreciated. Leading Polish writers took part in a decisive struggle against the consequences of the cult of personality, which found its place in literature, as well as in other areas of culture. But under the guise of the slogan of fighting dogmatism, supporters of various reactionary movements appeared in Polish literature. They called for a revision of all the achievements of post-war Polish literature and in fact were conductors of bourgeois ideology. The nihilistic criticism of reality found supporters among writers. The spirit of this criticism is imbued, for example, with Vazhik’s “Poem for Adults,” which rightly received a negative assessment in the press.

Decadent sentiments and pseudo-psychological fabrications also appeared in literature, and there was a desire to give a religious and philosophical interpretation of historical events. The work of some, mainly young, poets and writers showed aestheticism, cynicism, and demoralization.

Modern Polish literature has cleared itself of revisionist trends; it is gradually overcoming ideological trends alien to the new life and firmly embarking on the path of development of socialist realism. Polish writers have achieved certain successes in the artistic depiction of modern man (for example, Dygat in the novel “Journey”) and in depicting events of the past (“Life* big and small” by V. Mach, “Hole in the Sky” by G. Konwicki, etc.). In recent years, the volume of stories “Concert on Requests” by S. Vygodsky about the life of communists and their struggle against fascism and the story “Baptized by Fire” by V. Zhukrovsky about the first days after the liberation of Poland from the fascist occupiers have aroused great interest among Polish readers. An important event in the literary life of the country was the publication of J. Iwaszkiewicz’s trilogy “Glory and Praise,” covering the period from the First World War to the fascist occupation of Poland. Polish poetry was enriched with new works. The revolutionary poet V. Bronevsky remained at its forefront until the end of his life.

Polish writers may not be so well known to Russian readers. However, the classical layer of literature of this country is very original and especially dramatic. Perhaps this is due to the tragic fate of the Polish people, many centuries of conquest and division of lands, the Nazi invasion, the destruction of the country and its difficult restoration from ruins.

However, Polish writers are also known to us on the other hand, as the brightest representatives of such popular genres as science fiction and ironic detective. Let's talk about the most notable Polish writers of the 20th and 21st centuries, whose fame went beyond the borders of their native country.

Sienkiewicz Henryk

At the end of the 19th century, Sienkiewicz became the most famous Polish writer. Books by Polish writers are not often awarded major world prizes, but in 1905 Sienkiewicz received one for his entire literary work.

One of his most famous works is the historical saga “With Fire and Sword,” which tells about the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In 1894, he wrote his next landmark work, Quo Vadis, in the Russian translation “Kamo Gryadeshi”. This novel about the Roman Empire secures Sienkiewicz's fame as a master of the historical genre in literature. To this day, this novel remains very popular and is translated into various languages. His next work was the novel “Crusaders” about the attacks of the Teutonic Order on Poland.

With the outbreak of World War I, Sienkiewicz went to Switzerland, where he died in 1916 and was buried there. Later his remains were reburied in Warsaw.

Lem Stanislav

The Polish futurist writer is familiar to the whole world. He is the author of such famous works as “Solaris”, “Eden”, “The Voice of the Lord” and others.

He was born in 1921 in the city of Lviv, which was then Polish. During the German occupation, he miraculously escaped the ghetto thanks to forged documents. After the end of World War II, he moved to Krakow under the repatriation program, where he studied to become a doctor. In 46, Lem published his first story, and already in 51 his debut novel “Astronauts” was published, which instantly made him famous.

All the writer’s work can be divided into several groups. One is serious works in the spirit of science fiction. The other was written by him as a satirical writer. These are grotesque works such as “Cyberiad” and “Peace on Earth”.

Gombrowicz Witold

This is a Polish playwright from the 50s-60s of the 20th century. His first major novel, “Ferdydurka,” created a great resonance. He forever divided the literary world of Poland into fans and critics of his work, among whom were other Polish writers.

A month before the start of World War II, Gombrowicz sails on a boat to Argentina, where he experiences the terrible years of the war in exile. After the end of hostilities, the writer realizes that his work has been forgotten in his homeland, but it is not easy to gain fame abroad either. Only in the mid-50s did his old works begin to be reprinted in Poland.

In the 60s, popularity returned to him, largely thanks to the new novels “Cosmos” and “Pornography”, which were published in France. Witold Gombrowicz remained a master of words and a philosopher, who more than once entered into an argument with history.

Vishnevsky Janusz

Few contemporary Polish writers are as famous in the world as Janusz Wisniewski. Despite the fact that he now lives in Frankfurt am Main, his works are always colored by the unique charm of Polish prose, its drama and lyricism.

Vishnevsky’s debut novel “Loneliness on the Internet” about virtual love literally blew up the world. For three years the book was a bestseller, it was filmed and translated into many languages.

Khmelevskaya Ioanna

The works of Mrs. Khmelevskaya are not considered to be high true literature, and it is not surprising, since her genre is - However, one cannot deny her fame. Khmelevskaya’s books have become so popular not only because of their intrigue and cleverly twisted detective stories, but also because of the charm of her characters. The main character of many books is copied from the author - brave, ironic, smart, gambling, Mrs. Joanna did not leave anyone indifferent. Khmelevskaya copied the rest from her friends, relatives and colleagues. By the will of her imagination, many became victims or criminals and, as they later noted with a laugh, could not get rid of the imposed image.

Her own life threw her many stories - love affairs, dizzying meetings, travel and much less pleasant events of the Second World War, the occupation of Warsaw, the difficult economic fate of the country. All this brought into her books that living language and sharp humor that spread far beyond the borders of her native country.

Folk literature. There are no epics in it, nor what are usually called youth songs. True, some chroniclers of the 12th and 13th centuries. there are references to folk historical songs related to modern events; There are even traces that in the 15th century. there was an epic about the struggle of Bishop Zbygnev of Odesnitsky with Kosmidr Grushchinsky, the enemy of the church and peasants, or an extensive song about the Grunwald victory; but these works belong to book literature, and not to folk literature. It is possible, however, that the fabulous legends about Krak, Wanda, Popel, Piast, Přemysl, Leszky, forgotten by the people themselves and preserved only by some chroniclers, are fragments of a once-existing epic cycle; but there are no solid grounds for such an assumption. The basis of folk Polish literature was formed by the same principles that we find in other related literatures. Her works are divided into the same main groups: lyrical and epic. In the first group, as elsewhere, the most remarkable songs, which have preserved the most ancient traces of antiquity, are ritual songs and especially wedding songs. Other lyrical works are distinguished by a wide variety of moods: among them there are those imbued with deep sadness; they were especially inspired by representatives of romanticism, who borrowed many subjects from here; their tunes were a source of inspiration for Chopin. But there is also a whole mass of cheerful, passionate Krakowiaks, obereks or obertas, mazurkas, etc., who are also strongly reflected in literature and music. The composer Wieniawski is the best exponent of this trend: his Krakowiaks and Mazurkas are typically folk. The area of ​​Polish epic poetry is divided into fairy tales, fables, historical legends, religious legends, etc. Fairy tales, generally speaking, have the same character that we find in Russian fairy tales: and here you can find mythological, historical, everyday, borrowed themes stories from the West and the Far East. Between the fables there is a long series of works belonging to the animal epic; there is no shortage of moralizing apologists. There are relatively few historical legends. Religious stories are distinguished by a naive belief in miracles, but are almost alien to what might be called the apocryphal element, and generally alien to sectarian aspirations; there is no tendency towards mysticism here. There is nothing that resembles East Slavic spiritual poems like “The Virgin Mary’s Walk through Torment,” “The Book of the Dove,” etc. In Polish legends, a miracle seems to be a natural phenomenon, although one that goes beyond the framework of everyday life. The Holy Queen Kinga, with God's help, carries entire mountains full of salt from Hungary to Wieliczka; The body of the St. killed by King Boleslav the Bold, crushed into small pieces, is growing together. Stanislaus, Bishop of Krakow; the pious queen Jadwiga, although not a saint, leaves a footprint on a stone, etc. Even two angels come to the pagan Piast, in whom one can see a saint. Cyril and Methodius. Jesus Christ walks the earth with the apostles, of whom St. Peter often reveals human weaknesses; The Virgin Mary spins a web, called. "baby lato" Satan always seems to be either enslaved by a dark force, or a rather stupid creature, deceived by people. Even the need is quite easily dealt with by a reasonable man, and the “pestilence” is dealt with by a brave nobleman, sacrificing himself for the common good. In this entire area of ​​​​popular views, a clear, calm mood, realism, and sometimes humor prevail. This is especially noticeable in the group of very original folk works - the so-called. Kalends (kolędy), carols. These songs are sung in Polish churches during services and at home, especially in the evenings, from Christmas until the end of Maslenitsa. In many of them, describing the Nativity of Christ, there is a whole range of genre scenes, imitative sounds, ancient folk customs, and jokes. There are also apocryphal stories in Polish literature, but they had almost no impact on folk literature: works such as the “Gospel of Nicodemus” or the story about the creation of the world and the punishment of man were almost never read by the common people and were not altered in a native way. The dramatic element in Polish folk literature is almost not noticed at all; some manifestations of it can be seen only in ritual songs, wedding songs, bathing songs, etc. The philosophy of the people is expressed mainly in their proverbs and sayings; the most complete collection is Adalberg's, “Księga przysłów polskich” (Warsaw, 1894). Quite a lot of material has been collected for the study of Polish folk literature; in addition to the aforementioned work of Adalberg, collections of Rysinsky, Darowski, etc. are known. The most complete and comprehensive picture of folk art is the monumental publication of Oscar Kohlberg: “Lud, jego zwyczaje, sposób życia, mowa, podania, przysłowia, obrzędy, gusła, zabawy, pieśni , muzyka i tańce” (23 volumes have been published so far). For a bibliography of the subject, see the article by Appel and Krynski in “Prace Filologicznej” (1886), in the work of Dr. Fr. Pastrnek “Bibliographische Uebersicht über die Slavische Philologie” (Berl., 1892), in “Lectures on Slavic linguistics” by prof. Tim. Florinsky (vol. II, St. Petersburg, Kyiv, 1897) and (most fully) in the work of Adolf Strzheletsky “Materjały do ​​bibliografji ludoznawstwa polskiego” (in the Warsaw ethnographic magazine “Wisła”, 1896 and 1897). Three magazines are dedicated specifically to the study of folk literature and, in general, the ethnographic features of the Polish people: published since 1877 by the Krakow Akd. sciences “Zbiór wiadomości do anthropologji krajowej” (18 volumes), renamed from 1895 to “Materjały antropologiczne i etnograficzne”, published in Warsaw “Wisła” (11 volumes published since 1887) and “Lud”, organ of the Lviv Ethnographic Society (since 1895). In general, works on the history of folk literature have not yet left the preparatory period. So much material is being accumulated that soon it will be difficult for a researcher to cope with them, especially since many versions are printed in their entirety, without any comparisons with already published monuments; only Karlovich tried (in Wisla) to systematize some of the material. There is not even a satisfactory popular account of the fates and content of folk literature. What Wisniewski (“Hisiorja literatury polskiej”), Maciejewski (“Piśmiennictwo polskie”) and Zdanowicz-Sowiński (“Rys dziejów literatury polskiej”) wrote about this subject does not satisfy the requirements of scientific criticism.

From ancient times, not a single monument of purely folk art has reached our times, and we can have only the vaguest idea of ​​the state of literature in the pre-Christian period. It is very likely that in this area, as in the area of ​​language, the Slavic peoples in ancient times stood much closer to each other than now. Only later did the influence of Catholicism, Western culture, political events, social and economic conditions strongly affect the soil of folk literature, giving it an increasingly specific character. At first, purely Slavic, folk P. literature began to feed on alien elements over time. P.'s book literature did not initially contain either a Polish spiritual make-up or even a Polish appearance. Polish writers expressed borrowed thoughts in a foreign language. Everything Polish was rejected with contempt as a remnant of paganism and barbarism. With the adoption of Christianity in the 10th century. Together with Dubravka (Dombrovka), the wife of the baptized Meszko I, Czech priests arrived in Poland and began to organize the Polish church. There is some reason to think that along with Latin, Slavic worship spread among the Poles; but even if this fact existed, it had no influence on the development of P. literature. The spread of Latin, Western European culture through schools began. Thanks to the excellent work of A. Karbowiak “Dzieje wychowania i szkòł w Polsce w wiekach średnich” (vol. Ι, St. Petersburg, 1898), we have a clear understanding of the structure of school affairs in the medieval period of Polish history. Already under the first episcopal sees, schools arose, which over time began to open also at collegia, that is, more significant dormitories of the secular clergy, as well as at monasteries and parish churches. The capitular or episcopal and collegiate schools were headed by scholastic canons, under whose leadership the teachers worked; The head of a monastery or parish school was the rector of the monastery or church. All these schools were of the same type and pursued one goal: the study of the Latin language. The vernacular language was not only not taught, but was only allowed for the time being until the students learned a sufficient number of Latin words. The teacher first of all taught to read Latin, and the first textbook was the psalter. When a boy knew several psalms by heart and could sing them, he moved from the parish school to a capitular or collegiate school. The program of the latter contained information on the so-called. trivium and quadrivium (see Quadrivium); but, strictly speaking, in Poland only the trivium flourished in the Middle Ages, and the quadrivium was neglected. The most important subject of study was grammar, which included reading literary monuments, as well as metrics and explanations of authors. Greek grammar was not taught at all. Rhetoric included dictamen, that is, the art of writing state charters and legal acts; At the same time, some information was provided on state and canon law. Studies in dialectics intensified only from the second half of the 11th century, when disputes flared up between secular and spiritual authorities and scholastic philosophy appeared. Until the 13th century, schools were attended almost exclusively by people who, from childhood, had devoted themselves to spiritual or monastic life. Even the Piastovichs and P. nobles were engaged only in “knightly craft” and had no attraction to the book; much more curiosity is noticed among medieval women, among whom literate persons are more often encountered than among men. Of the three first kings, only Mieszko II knew Latin and even Greek. Of those who devoted themselves to book writing, many even before the 13th century. went to Italy and France to complete their education. In the XIII and XIV centuries. the number of schools in Poland has increased; Preparatory parish schools began to open especially in large numbers. Sources for the period between 1215 and 1364 mention of 120 schools of various types; it is very likely that many others remain unheard of. Book education began to spread greatly among the urban merchant class, and since the Polish element in the school became stronger, it became a tool for the Polonization of the originally German population of the cities. It was forbidden to teach in schools those Germans who did not know Polish, although teaching was conducted in Latin and only as a last resort it was customary to resort to the help of the Polish language. At the same time, the number of Poles receiving higher education abroad increased so much that at the University of Bologna they already constituted a separate corporation (“nation”); there was no shortage of Polish students in other universities - in Padua, Rome, Paris, Montpellier, Avignon, Prague. Travel to the West did not stop either after 1364, when Casimir the Great founded a law school in the vicinity of Krakow, or after 1400, when Poland's first full university was opened in Krakow. The Poles made more than one contribution to medieval science; in some areas of knowledge they gained pan-European fame; but they worked exclusively in a pan-European direction, completely depersonalizing in national terms. Only by external signs can one sometimes recognize a Pole in an author: when he talks about events that happened in Poland, when he mentions some characteristic features of the Polish people, when, finally, he simultaneously writes in his native Polish language.

P. writing in the first period of its development - until the end of the 15th century. - is divided into three main departments: scientific, didactic and poetic. In the field of scientific literature, chronicles come first, preceded by private annals (roczniki). The most important Polish-Latin chroniclers until the end of the 14th century. were: an unknown foreigner called Martin Gall, in whom Max Gumplowicz suggests Bishop Baldwin Gall of Kruszwica (1110-1113; see Gumplowicz, “Bischof Balduin Gallus von Kruszwica, Polens erster lateinischer Chronist”, B., 1885, "Sitzungsber. k. Wiss.", vol. 132); followed by Vikenty Kadlubek, b. in 1160, Baszko (or some other person), who wrote the Greater Poland chronicle between 1280 and 1297, and Janko from Charnkov, who died in 1389. All of them in their writings preserved many legends important for the history of literature and culture; They also have some contemporary songs in Latin adaptations. Gall has a simple style, a lot of humor; Kadlubok's style is artificial, pretentious, his Latin is distinguished by all the characteristic features of medieval taste; Yanko from Charnkov is a bilious man, not without satirical habits. Martin Polyak gained great fame in Western Europe and died. in 1279, the author of the first chronicle about four monarchies: Babylonian, Carthaginian, Macedonian and Roman, to which he added the chronicle of the popes. By the 13th century. refers to a description of the journey of two Polish Franciscans, the famous Jan de Plano-Carpino and Benedikt Polyak, to the Tatar Khan Gayuk. In the same century, Vitellion was the first to introduce medieval Europe to the theory of optics; he is considered the author of the philosophical treatise “De inleligentia”, where he tries to explain dark philosophical questions on the basis of facts obtained by natural science (see V. Rubchinsky, “Traktat o porządku istnień i umysłow i jego domniemany autor Vitellion”, in “Rozpr. Ak. Um .Wydz. historyczny", vol. XXVII). The didactic group of monuments consists of sermons, recently beautifully edited by Prof. Alex. Brückner, in the work entitled. “Kazania średniowieczne” (“Rozprawy Akademji Umiejetności. Wydział filologiczny”, vol. XXIV and XXV, Krakow, 1895 and 1897). The monuments of this group mainly date back to the 15th century, that is, to the time when the Polish clergy was already well acquainted with the Latin language and wrote exclusively in this language, which more easily opened the way to wide fame. Later writers, especially Protestants, concluded from this that Catholic priests talked preaching to his flock in Latin. This is incorrect: the oldest monuments of Polish church eloquence, namely the “Świętokříż” and “Gniezno” sermons, were preserved in the Polish original. In other cases, only opening prayers, spiritual songs quoted by the preacher, and, finally, individual sentences or words (glosses) were written in Polish in order to make it easier for the priest to work at the pulpit, when he would have to express thoughts drawn from the Latin model in the vernacular language. Only spiritual speeches with which priests addressed young students or highly educated people do not have Polish glosses. In their form, Polish-Latin sermons are no different from the pan-European medieval type. According to their content, they can be divided into three main groups. The first includes those that, for example, the sermons of Matthew from Grokhov, are replete with anecdotal material that is very valuable for the history of literature. The second group includes teachings “de superstitionibus”, which contain rich material for the study of the superstitions of that time. Finally, the third group consists of moral and instructive sermons, where one can find many important indications of the moral state of the society of that time. From this group of monuments, the “Świętokříż” sermons date back, at the latest, to the half of the 14th century. and represent the oldest and most extensive monument of Polish writing known to this day. The Świętokříż sermons were published by Brückner in “Prace Filologiczne” (vol. III, Warsaw, 1891), the Gniezno sermons by Count Dzialynski under the title. “Zabytek dawnej mowy polskiej” (Poznan, 1857). The third section of medieval literary monuments consists of Latin and Polish poetic works. In the study of this area, the works of A. Brückner are especially important: “Sredniowieczna poezja łacińska w Polsce” (“Rozpr. Ak. Um. Wydz. filologiczny”, vol. XVI, XXII and XXIII), “Wiersze polskie średniowieczne” (“Biblioteka Warszawska” , 1893) and “Drobne zabytki języka polskiego” (“Rozpr. Ak. Um.”, vol. XXV). Few collections of poetry have survived, only a few dozen, while many theological manuscripts from the Middle Ages remain. Such collections included almost exclusively works by medieval authors (fables, moralizing poems, satires, pornographic poems). Very few of the classics were read, most often Ovid; Virgil, Lucan, Persius, Juvenal and, least of all, Horace were also known. Among the poems of Polish authors recorded in the chronicles of Gall, Vincent and Dlugosz, of particular interest are epitaphs, a poem about court life, a satire on merchants and other classes, poems about the defeat at Varna, love poems, an extensive poem about the war of Zbygnev Olesnitsky with Kosmidr Grushchinsky and , finally, the poem by Frovin or Vidvin (Vidrina) “Antigameratus”. This poem, written by the Leonines, aims to set out the precepts of morality and at the same time teach to distinguish the meaning of monosounding Latin words. The author addresses in turn bishops, priests, princes, judges, masters, servants, spouses, talks about clothing, hairstyle, etc., gives advice on how to behave at the table, what farmers should do at different times of the year, how to live in general and what to do under different circumstances. The poem was probably written in the Krakow region, after 1320; it was especially popular in Germany, where even printed editions of it appeared. Religious Latin poetry was less widespread in Poland: “Aurora” (exposition of the Old and New Testaments in hexameters) by Peter de Riga and “Carmen Paschale” by Sedulius. Of the Polish church songs, the oldest is considered to be “Bogurodzica”, which, according to legend, belongs to St. Wojciech (10th century) and known from five lists of the 15th century. The songs published by Bobovsky in “Rozpr. Akad. Um." (vol. XIX) and Brückner in “Biblioteka Warszawska” (1893) and in “Rozpr. Akad. Um." (Vol. XXV). Some of these works are distinguished by poetic merits, but they do not yet contain that treatment that appears for the first time on Polish soil only in Kokhanovsky. With the founding of the University of Krakow the dawn of new times began. Fresh currents of humanism begin to penetrate into Poland along with Protestant ideas. The number of schools is increasing significantly, not only clergy, but also secular people are receiving education; the number of people going abroad to complete their education and returning from there not only with new knowledge, but also with new ideas is increasing. At the university, a struggle breaks out between the scholastics, led by the founder of phrenology, Jan of Glogowa, and the humanists, among whom Gregory of Sanok is nominated. Nicolaus Copernicus creates a new theory of the rotation of celestial bodies. Dlugosz writes the first history of Poland; Jan Ostrorog, Doctor of Laws, socialite and magnate, composes a treatise on government. Educated foreigners come to Poland, some of whom, for example. Callimachus writes in Latin, others write in Polish, such as the Serb Mikhail Konstantinovich from Ostravica, who wrote the history of the Turkish state (“Pamiętniki Janczara”). Already in the middle of the 15th century. literature is sometimes a tool of religious propaganda: for example, Andrei Galka from Dobchin composed a poetic praise of Viklef.

At the beginning of the 16th century, when printing spread, the Polish language began to come into general use in literature and displace, especially thanks to religious reformers, Latin speech. At the same time, a new period began in the history of P. literature. The first representatives of humanism in Poland not only in the 15th, but also in the 16th century. also wrote in Latin: they included Jan from Wislica, the author of the epic rhapsody about the Battle of Grunwald, Andrei Krzycki, Jan Flaxbinder Dantyszek, Clemens Janicki. Even Kokhanovsky first wrote in Latin and only from Paris sent the first Polish poem to Poland, with which a new era in Polish poetry began. Humanism in Poland found very fertile soil. The gentry of that time enjoyed all the benefits of political freedom, which had not yet degenerated into extreme self-will; young people studied at the University of Krakow, traveled through foreign lands and completed their education at the courts of magnates who tried to be real philanthropists. An interesting picture of such a court is given by Luka Gurnicki’s book “Dworzanin polski”, adapted from “Il libro del cortegiano” by Castiglione. Thanks to the patronage of the aristocracy, epic poems, elegies, odes, songs, satires, bucolics, epigrams, jokes, etc. appeared. Rey († 1569) painted vivid pictures of morals, typical portraits of individuals, and gave lively scenes copied from life. But Rey’s language, although expressive, strong, figurative, does not rise to the level of truly artistic treatment: his verse is heavy and is rhymed prose, so in this respect he is closer to medieval writers. Jan Kochanowski († 1584) is already a poet in the full sense of the word. In the field of lyric poetry, he achieved high perfection: his translation of the psalter is still considered exemplary; in “Trenach,” written for the death of his daughter, and in some other songs, the depth and sincerity of feeling is combined with a truly beautiful form. Caustic in satire, Kokhanovsky's poetry is full of fun and even widespread revelry in jokes (Fraszki). He failed to create a national drama: his “Odprawa posłów greckich” is an imitation of classical models. Among Kokhanovsky's contemporaries, worthy of attention are Nikolai Semp Sharzhinsky (died in 1581), the author of several sonnets and religious songs, Stanislav Grokhovsky, Gaspar Myaskovsky, Pyotr Zbylitovsky, Pyotr Kokhanovsky, the author of very popular poems imbued with love for the peasant people, Shimon Shimonovich ( Bendonsky, 1557-1629) and, finally, who did not have great poetic talent, but was an apt satirist Sevastyan Klenovich (1551-1602). Of the prose writers, he became very famous in the 16th century. used by priest Stanislav Orzechowski, a passionate Catholic, but who fought with Catholic bishops over the right of priests to marry. The Polish language undoubtedly owes a lot to this talented publicist. The historians Vanovsky, Kromer, Orzhelsky, Heidenstein, Bielski, Stryjkovsky wrote in Latin or Polish. Paprocki was a special historian of noble families. The political writer Fritch Modrzewski, the philologist Nidecki, and others enjoyed fame. The same place as Kokhanovski among poets is occupied by the famous Jesuit preacher Peter Skarga (Pavenski, 1532-1612) among prose writers. Neither before nor after him, no one in Poland rose to such inspired eloquence. Skarga spoke only from the church pulpit, but this pulpit served for him as a political leader. podium. Its name is especially important. Diet sermons. Skarga stands on purely Catholic grounds and takes up arms against Protestants, who enjoyed complete religious tolerance; but at the same time he stands up for the oppressed peasantry, pursues highly humane ideas and threatens Poland with heaven’s punishment for its many disorders. Since the end of the 16th century. The reign of humanism in Poland ends. Circumstances have changed: instead of the former freedom there came self-will, instead of calm - external and internal wars, instead of the flowering of free thought - a reaction that suppressed any mental movement. The persecution of the Arians was followed by the persecution of Protestants, who could not resort to literary protection: their printing houses and schools were closed, their churches were locked and destroyed. The Jesuits took education into their own hands. All this greatly influenced the decline of science and literature in Poland. To the numerous names of Poles who between the XIII and XVI centuries. gained pan-European fame, XVII century. adds only one name of Matvey Sarbevsky († 1640), a Polish-Latin poet, whose works are still ranked on a par with the works of the ancient Latin classics. In the half of the 17th century. it was difficult to meet a nobleman who could not speak Latin; but education did not go further than this. The lack of a thorough education led to a decline in taste; the Polish language began to be considered a barbaric language, incapable of expressing high feelings: it had to be decorated with Latin phrases and individual words. Hence the so-called macaronism (see). The understanding of real beauty in art has disappeared, or, better said, has degenerated: ugly techniques gain dominance - unnatural rearrangement of words, pretentious descriptive forms, accumulation of loud phrases in which the common sense of speech is drowned. Moreover, semi-educated people had nothing to write about: the place of ideas, which were felt to be lacking, was replaced by purely personal interests. Literature becomes a means of profit and political machinations: it is flooded with panegyrics, lampoons, public speeches, distinguished by the most bizarre forms. This fashion is even breaking into prayer books and church pulpits. The number of writers is increasing significantly, but literature is not benefiting from this. The best writers who did not slavishly imitate fashion did not publish their works, so they were completely forgotten for a long time and even now are not well known, as for example. Vaclav Potocki. The translation activity developing at the same time was more fruitful. Polish translations of Western European and other stories appeared in manuscripts and printed publications as early as the 16th century. (see S. A. Ptashitsky, “Medieval Western European stories in Russian and Slavic literature”, St. Petersburg, 1897); but the wide distribution of this type of literary work dates back only to the 17th century. At the same time, a permanent theater began in Poland. Vladislav IV was a lover of dramatic performances; English, French and Italian actors alternately played at his court. There was no local repertoire yet, but they had already begun to translate foreign plays into Polish: for example, Jan Andrei Morsztyn translated Kornelevsky’s “Sid” and Tassa’s comedy “Amintas”. In general terms, the earlier history of Polish drama (cf. Piotr Chmielewski, “Nasza literatura dramatyczna”, St. Petersburg, 1898) is as follows. If we leave aside the oldest dialogues, in which, apart from the colloquial form, there is no dramatic element (the oldest monument of this kind in Polish - “Rozmowa śmerci z magistrem” - dates back to the 15th century), then the earliest monuments of P. dramatic literature should be considered dating back to the 16th century. op. Nicholas from Wilkowieck: “Historja o chwalebnem Zmartwychwstanni Pańskiem”, a kind of medieval mystery. Rey writes a dramatic "Zywot Józefa", in many ways reminiscent of medieval dialogues. Šimonović's Latin dramas "Castus Joseph" and "Pentesilea" are written in classical style. In the same XVI century. Echoes of religious disputes penetrate into dramatic literature. In 1550 the op. was published in Krakow. the Hungarian Mihaly “Comoedia lepidissima de matrimonio sacerdotum”, then “Komedja o mięsopuscie” appears, Belsky’s dialogues - “Prostych ludzi w wierze nauka”, “Tragedja o mszy”. Aesthetically, all this is very weak. The later, so-called. Rybaltovskaya comedy is a type of school dialogue, the oldest of which is considered “Tragedja Zebracza” (1552). This type of satirical comedy includes “Wyprawa plebańska” (1590), its continuation “Albertusz wojny” (1596), “Tragedja o Scylurusie” by Yurkovsky (1604), the dramatic trilogy “Bachanalia” (1640) and many others. other unnamed comedies that appeared throughout the entire 17th century. The most typical representative of the trend that dominated the literature of the 17th century is Jan Andrej Morsztyn (see Eduard Porembowicz, “Andrzej Morsztyn”, Krakow, 1893). Thanks to his careful education, he avoided the crude literary tastelessness of his time and the monstrous turns of phrase that abounded in the writings of the then petty panegyrists and lampooners; but in his poems he also willingly resorted to refined stylistic effects, imitating the Italian and French writers of his time. Another typical representative of the 17th century. - Vespasian Kochovsky, author of an ode glorifying the expulsion of the Arians from Poland, and many religious poems. His works are distinguished by sensuality, rough realism, even triviality, and, however, ancient classical deities constantly appear in his work. Less remarkable are Zimorovichi, Gavinsky, Tvardovsky. Opalinsky is promoted as the author of caustic satires. An exceptional position among writers of the 17th century. occupied by Jan Chrysostom Pasek and Vaclav Potocki. The first, the author of valuable memoirs, is somewhat reminiscent of Ray. And he paid tribute to his time by weaving Latin expressions into his story, but he did this occasionally and generally wrote simply and picturesquely. Pototsky in the works published during his lifetime was no different from his contemporaries, but in the poems that he left in manuscript, especially in the “Khotyn War,” he is, like Pasek, a realist, without going to extremes. We can say that without Pasek and Pototsky in the 17th century. would seem to be an era of complete impoverishment of literary talent in Poland. From the first half of the 18th century, which still belongs to the same literary period, it is worth mentioning only one Martin Matuszewski (1714-65), the author of memoirs in which the picture of the moral decline of the then society is drawn with complete ruthlessness. Then the first warning voices begin to be heard: Karwicki, “De ordinanda republica”, Jan Jablonowski, “Skrupuł bez skrupułu w Polsce”, Stanislav Leszczynski, “Głos wolny, wolność ubezpieczający”. Załuski founded a famous library in Warsaw; Konarski takes up the reform of public education and publishes the famous journalistic work “O skutecznym rad sposobie”, where he rebels against the liberum veto. The time of new ideas is approaching, which made a radical mental revolution in Polish society (see Wladislav Smolensky, “Przewrót umysłowy w Polsce wieka XVIII”, Krakow and St. Petersburg, 1891). A strong mental movement arises again, although under completely different circumstances than in the 16th century. Poland not only does not occupy its former position among other European powers, but has already lost half of its independence. The imminent danger prompts a desire for self-defense through radical reforms. But only more far-sighted people see this necessity; The mass of the gentry stubbornly clings to the old order. An intensified ideological struggle begins between representatives of the old and new directions; French rationalist philosophy also appeared on the scene. The throne was occupied by a weak, characterless but highly educated king, gifted with refined taste; he surrounds himself with poets, encourages their activities, gives them funds and high positions. On the basis of fruitless political efforts and moral insanity, the flower of highly artistic literature grows. The most important fact of mental life of the 18th century. There was a secularization of the school in 1773, after the destruction of the Jesuit order. Even before this time, an order of PR had appeared in Poland, competing with the Jesuits in the school field, which introduced the teaching of natural sciences into its schools, thereby forcing the Jesuits to make some concessions in favor of the new direction; but this cannot be compared with the radical reform, according to which all educational institutions came under the direct jurisdiction of state power. The educational commission founded to carry out the reform consisted of educated people brought up in the spirit of French rationalism. The reform began with the universities of Krakow and Vilnius, which were remade according to Western European models. The secondary school program processed by Piramovich introduces teaching in the Latin language and limits the scope of teaching Latin. and expands the scope of other subjects. Literacy schools are opening in cities and villages, new manuals and textbooks are being written. French ideas and tastes triumph; after the long dominance of Catholicism, a strong philosophical reaction began, which embraced almost all the talents in the country without exception. Consciousness of political and social ills aroused the desire to reveal them in all their nakedness, and for this the best means were satire and the satirical fable. One-sidedly accepted rationalism and criticism led, however, to dryness and impoverishment of feelings. Hence the need to improve the form, since without this literary works would be too colorless. Virtuosos of the language appear - Trembecki († 1812), Hungarian († 1787), Krasitsky († 1801). Their innate wit, trained in French. samples, significantly improved compared to the 7th century; The subtly sarcastic Krasitsky is especially remarkable. These three luminaries of their time armed themselves mainly against the rigidity of prejudices and, in general, everything that resembled the “barbarism” of former times or the senseless external imitation of a new fashion with internal vulgarity and rudeness. The fourth luminary - Narushevich - was inferior to them in terms of talent, but surpassed them in the breadth and depth of his views: as a historian who has thoroughly studied the past of Poland, he paints, like a poet, with bright colors a picture of the moral corruption of Polish society; he does not limit himself to light pricks, does not laugh, but cries, imbuing his satires not with spices, but with bile. In the form of pseudo-classics of the French type, these four writers still connected their literary activities with real life much more than their predecessors. Literature, imitative in its form, became popular in its content, as it was among only a few writers of the 16th century. and among some representatives of P. thought in the 17th century. (Pasek and Potocki). If she did not create outstanding artistic types, this was because at that time there was still too much inclination towards caricature. The comedy had a fairly large representative in the person of Zablotsky († 1821), in its satirical character and general direction akin to Trembetskoy, Hungarian and Krasitsky. Zablotsky would have created, perhaps, a better comedy if he had not been constrained by the well-known rules of unity of place, time and main person: in all his comedies the action takes place within one room and 24 hours; Everywhere, moreover, the minor faces are only lightly drawn. Boguslavsky also has great merits in the history of the P. theater, who was the first to properly organize a society of actors (a permanent theater existed in Warsaw since 1765) and in 1794 staged his operetta “Cud mniemany, czyli krakowiacy and gòrale”, where for the first time peasants appeared on the scene. The first author of a political comedy was Yulian Ursyn Nemcewicz, author of the comedy “Powrót posła” (1791). Felinsky († 1820) wrote pseudo-classical tragedies. The most outstanding writer of this movement and, in general, one of the best representatives of dramatic literature in Poland was the epigon of neoclassicism, Count Alexander Fredro (1793-1876). His comedies, written in a clear, flowing language, mostly in verse, still serve as a decoration for the P. stage: the intrigue is natural and deftly carried out, the characters are very lifelike, the wit is always genuine, the action is extremely lively. In some places Fredro is not free from sentimentalism, but much more often he is a satirist. Sentimental literature flourished alongside satirical literature. Even the most typical representatives of satire were not always free from sentimentalism. Krasitsky translates Ossian's songs, writes "The Khotyn War" and utopian-didactic novels, in which the sentimental overtones appear quite noticeably. Karpinsky and Knyaznin devoted themselves exclusively to sentimental poetry. Karpinsky especially knew how to hit the tone of “sensitive” hearts and gained great popularity.

The so-called “political literature of the four-year Sejm” (1788-92), the main representatives of which were Staszic (1755-1826) and Kollontai (1750-1812), embraces a number of works written in the spirit of political reform and serves as a transitional step from the literature of the 18th century . to the literature of the beginning of this century. The tragic fate of the P. state deeply affected the hearts and minds; the rise of patriotic feelings was also expressed in literature. There was no longer room for satire; the sweet sounds of the sentimental singers of love for the “Justins”, “Rosines” and “Chloes” fell silent. However, the tradition of form remained unshaken, the former authority of Aristotle and Boileau remained; Only the plots have changed radically. Not daring to dream of a quick restoration of political independence, the writers of that time turned their gaze to the past and began to look for a golden age in the past. Voronich (17b7-1829) publishes the poem “Sybilla”, in which he turns his thoughts to the times of the initial unity of the Slavs and expresses the hope that in the future all Slavic peoples will unite together in one friendly union. Nemtsevich writes “Historical Songs” (1816) and a tendentious novel; a number of historical tragedies appear. Linde (1771-1847) is working on a historical dictionary of the P. language, Charnotsky (Khodakovsky, 1784-1825) is studying traces of the prehistoric culture of the Slavs, Matseevsky (1793-1883) is writing a history of Slavic legislation. Somewhat later, after a short but fierce struggle with supporters of the old trends, romanticism took possession of the best part of society, reflected not only in poetry, but also in all manifestations of the mental activity of the nation. He brought to the fore the idea that new peoples, different from the ancients in religion, social structure, etc., should free themselves from slavish imitation of the Greeks and Romans and create their own poetry, original in content and form. The idea of ​​Slavic unity could not gain popularity at a time when P.'s youth, carried away by Napoleon, set out on a campaign against Russia under his banner. From then on, new political horizons opened up for the Poles: they began to count on European help and raised the issue of their own political agenda. freedom with the question of freedom in general. This formulation of the matter had very important consequences, not only political, but also literary: literature becomes the leader of life, romanticism takes on a political revolutionary character; After the failure of 1831, the idea of ​​Poland, suffering for the sins not of its own, but of other peoples, gained dominance in literature, is the image of the “Christ of the nations”, who died in order to be resurrected and usher in a new era of universal freedom. In the purely literary sphere, romanticism brought to the fore imagination and feeling, which it considered a truer criterion of truth and a guide in life than cold reason. This, too, was quite to the liking of the Poles: when a person or a people suffers misfortune, when all his calculations turn out to be erroneous and do not lead to the desired results, he willingly relies on everything that is not amenable to calculation and cold-blooded criticism. The passion of desire overcomes calculation; It is not forces that are the measure of intentions, but intentions of forces, as Mickiewicz expressed it in his “Ode to Youth.” Hence also the attraction to everything wonderful, and above all to folk literature, imbued with this element. This was not complete news in Poland: Szymonovich was not forgotten, Skarga’s sermons were very popular, and even at the end of the 18th century. prepared minds to look differently at ordinary people. The idea arose that the liberation of Poland required the assistance of all classes of the people and, above all, the peasants. Political circumstances also contributed to the revival of Polish literature: Alexander I granted the Kingdom of Poland some liberties, the country enjoyed a certain autonomy, had a constitution and its own army. Part of the country's spiritual forces went into the area of ​​state and administrative concerns, but there still remained an excess of mental forces for which there was no scope in the political or military field. The very ranks of the intelligentsia increased significantly thanks to the educational reform in the second half of the 18th century. and the later activities of Chatsky and Prince. Chartoryzhski: the number of schools has increased, teaching has improved. The new writers, among whom there were also those gifted with extraordinary talent, no longer looked for patrons of the arts: for them the only patron of the arts was the people, the fatherland. Although romanticism came to Poland from outside, mainly from Germany, in essence, the German influence was not particularly great (aka Murko, “Deutsche Einflüsse auf die Anfänge der böhmischen Romantik”, Graz, 1897); new trends found well-prepared soil and soon took on a completely national character. As Spasovich rightly put it (Pypin and Spasovich, “History of Slavic Literatures”, St. Petersburg, 1879), romanticism served only as a shell for a new poetry born from an egg, completely original and even more popular than all previously existing literary movements. The first to speak about romanticism in Poland was a professor at the University of Warsaw. Brodzinsky. (cm.). Translations of Schiller, Goethe, Herder, Walter Scott, Byron, and Shakespeare began to appear more and more often. A circle of young people, mainly students of the Kremenets Lyceum, was keen on new ideas. Its members included Joseph Korzhenevsky, Karl Sienkiewicz, Tymon Zaborovsky, Mavriky Mokhnatsky, Bohdan Zalesky, Severin Goschinsky, Mikhail Grabovsky, Dominik Magnushevsky, Konstantin Gashinsky - all future poets and critics who dreamed of creating original folk literature. In their aspirations they found support in the person of professors Brodzinsky and Lelewel, who, according to Mokhnatsky, was also an inspired poet, when, with all the fervor of youth, but at the same time with acute scientific insight, he reproduced images of past times. Since the folk literature that inspired the romantics was not uniform throughout the lands of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, this name appeared. provincial schools, of which the Ukrainian one became especially famous. It consists mainly of three writers: Anton Malczewski (1793-1826), Bohdan Zaleski (1802-1886) and Severin Goszczynski (1803-1876). Malchevsky (q.v.) was a Byronist; his poem “Maria” is imbued with pessimism, shrouded in some kind of mystery, the characters are presented as extraordinary creatures and belong to the magnate or gentry class, and the common people appear only in the person of one Cossack. The free Cossack life found a singer in Zalesky (see), who glorified the ancient Cossack prowess and the delights of Ukrainian nature. If we can say that Malchevsky sang the gentry’s Ukraine, and Zalesky the Cossack Ukraine, then Goshchinsky (see) can rightly be called the singer of the Haidamak Ukraine with all its customs and beliefs. In contrast to the first two representatives of the Ukrainian school, Goshchinsky is more of an epic than a lyricist: his descriptions breathe truth, he understands nature and knows how to describe it vividly and picturesquely; Its coloring is dominated by dark colors; its landscape seems to reflect the dramatic nature of the bloody scenes taking place between people. Earlier than all of the three named poets, Zaleski (1822) began publishing his songs and thoughts, but he did not make a strong impression, at least on the classics, who passed over these first fruits of romanticism in complete silence. A storm of indignation arose only when Mickiewicz published the first two volumes of his poems (1822 and 1823). But the first shots were also the last: Mickiewicz’s works soon forced all supporters of classicism either to shut up or go over to the side of romanticism. Polish romanticism was first born in Warsaw, but flourished in Vilna, where it found more favorable soil. In Warsaw, “French” tastes and literary traditions were still very much alive, finding strong support in the literature professor Osinski, the critic Dmochowski, and the poet Kozmian; the Vilna classics were less authoritative, and as a result, university youth more boldly entered the literary field with new ideas. She joined circles - Filaretov, Filomatov, “Promenistykh”, etc. - working diligently on internal self-improvement, dreaming of the liberation of the fatherland, composing ballads and romances in a purely romantic spirit. Soon, however, the imprisonment of several dozen students accused of conspiracy, the exile of Mickiewicz, Zahn, Chechotte, and the almost complete emigration of all poets abroad led to the fact that the new P. poetry, having emerged from a romantic source, took a unique direction, which was reflected in poetic the activities of Mickiewicz (1798-1855) and all those who are considered to be in the same group with him, for example Julius Słowacki (1809-1849) and partly Sigismund Krasiński (1812-1859); the latter was not an emigrant, but lived mostly abroad and published his works anonymously. Mickiewicz (q.v.) armed himself against hungry, soulless classical poetry, defending the rights of the heart and soul. This is the nature of his first works: ballads, romances and the fourth part of “Dzyady”. As a singer of love, he was the first in P. literature to present this feeling in all its purity and depth. In “Grazyna,” which is also one of Mickiewicz’s first works, he was inspired by the idea of ​​sacrificing himself for the common good. His next works (“Ode to Youth”, “Conrad Wallenrod”, “Faris”) express the political ideas that worried Polish society at that time. When the armed struggle broke out, Mickiewicz's muse fell silent for a while: he wrote several poems on military themes, but did not reach the same height of inspiration in them as in other poems. More popular were the revolutionary poems of Julius Slovacki (“Kulich”, “Hymn to the Mother of God”, etc.) and especially the militant “Songs of Janusz” written by Vincent Pol. With the war of 1831, the first period of P. romantic poetry ended, completed by Mokhnatsky’s book (see): “On the literature of the 19th century.” In 1832, Mickiewicz published the third part of “Dziady”, where the hero of the fourth part, Gustav, who appears here under the name of Conrad, completely devotes himself to the thought of saving the fatherland. He wants to dominate all hearts and minds, rebels against God and collapses in powerless despair. Mickiewicz symbolically portrays Conrad as being in the grip of an evil spirit, who is driven out by the humble, unlearned, obedient priest Peter. He also loves his fatherland, but humbly accepts everything sent by God; therefore, in a foggy half-sleep, the future is revealed to him and he sees the coming liberator. Here are already the first beginnings of messianism, noticeable also in the “Books of the Polish People and Pilgrimage,” in Słowacki’s poem “Angelli,” and in some of Krasinski’s works. Its beginning can be found back in the 17th century. from Vespasian Kochovsky, but Mickiewicz created this form himself, under the influence of Saint-Martin and other mystics. "Pan Tadeusz" was Mickiewicz's last poetic work. There is almost no politics here, but there is a completely new literary direction; The place of romanticism, which was ridiculed not only in the person of Telimena, but also in the person of the count, is taken by idealistic realism, which was destined to establish itself for a long time in Polish literature and especially in novels. Pan Tadeusz is considered the greatest work of Polish literature. Of Mickiewicz's two great contemporaries, Krasinski is closer to him than Słowacki. Krasinski (q.v.) began with universal ideas and then moved on to national ones. All of his works, except “Agai Khan” and “Summer Night”, are based on political or social plots. The background for the “Unfinished Poem” is poetic historiosophy; Here a struggle arises between two ideas - the dominant order and revolution. In “Iridion,” Krasinski tries to solve a political problem: the hero of the poem is saved from hell by love for his homeland, but he must repent of his sins, living in the land of “graves and crosses” and waiting there for the fulfillment of his dreams of freedom. The “Legend” is imbued with the belief that over time humanity will fulfill the covenants of the Gospel, and then redemption will come for the poet’s homeland. Dreams of a better future were also expressed in the poem “Przedświt” (“Dawn”). The idea of ​​messianism is taken to the extreme in Krasinski; according to the fair remark of one of the newest historians of P. literature, Beltsikovsky, Krasinsky does not take into account either the past or the future, having lost sight of the real conditions of life and history. Slovaksky, compared to Mickiewicz and Krasinski, is little involved in politics, and his politics are different: the heroes of his poems act and strive for a specific goal. Therefore, he willingly resorted to dramatic form. The most outstanding of Słowacki's political works are “Kordian” and “Angelli”. In this latter, the idea of ​​messianism is again revealed: Angelli is a silent victim who redeems the people, but does not herself rise from the dead. Political poems also include one of Słowacki’s last works, “The Spirit King,” the idea of ​​which, as far as one can judge from the unfinished passages, was to show in a number of pictures the cultural and political development of the Polish people. Słowacki adheres to the democratic trend, expressed, among other things, in “The Tomb of Agamemnon” and in the poetic letter to Krasiński “Do autora trzech psalmów”.

Their satellites were grouped around three great Polish poets: Tomasz Zan, Anton Eduard Odyniec, Stefan Witwicki, Anton Goretsky, Stefan Garczynski and others. After the disastrous outcome of the uprising of 1830-31, Polish romantic poetry flourished abroad, mainly in Paris, where Mickiewicz and Slovacki lived permanently. The emigrants believed that they represented a truly free Poland, that it was their responsibility to work to restore the fatherland. The idea of ​​messianism that animated some of them soon degenerated into extreme vague mysticism, especially when Andrei Tovyansky appeared, who for a time attracted almost all the outstanding representatives of Polish thought in emigration circles. Mickiewicz stopped writing completely and only lectured at the Collège de France; Although Slovak wrote, he wrote so vaguely that they no longer understood him. However, messianism soon outlived its time; Emigration literature did not have enough strength to create new ideas, and it was not among them that a number of writers appeared who followed the path indicated by Mickiewicz in “Pan Tadeusz.” Calm internal work began on the transformation and improvement of society - everyday work, small, but fruitful and quickly moving forward. The thought of the people, exhausted by constantly looking ahead, willingly transferred itself to the happy past and dwelled on those moments when life was better, when the soul was not tormented by fears for the future. The feeling after the romantic explosion did not freeze, but calmed down, giving literary work a soft and moderate flavor, especially in novels. Of the poets who mainly depicted the past, Vikenty Pol (see) became especially famous. By the nature of his plots, he is close to the author of many historical novels written in the same idealistic direction - Sigismund Kachkovsky and his predecessor in this field, Heinrich Rzhevusky. Most other poets turned to more modern themes. Ludwik Kondratovich (Vladislav Syrokomlya, 1823-1862) especially came to the fore. His poetic stories are excellent, the heroes of which are a minor nobleman, a tradesman, a peasant. He was the first, looking into an area of ​​​​the life of the masses that had not been developed before him, and became an inspired singer of the feelings and aspirations of the people in the direct sense of the word. Another Lithuanian poet, Eduard Zheligovsky (Anton Sova), published in 1846 under the title. "Jordan" was a caustic satire in which it rebelled with great force against social ills. Quite close to Kondratovich is Feofil Lenartovich (1822-1893), who drew his themes from folk tales and managed to convey their simplicity in an elegant form. A separate group consists of the so-called. enthusiasts whose activities were concentrated in Warsaw: Wladimir Wolski, Roman Zmorski, Narcisa Żmichowska, Richard Berwinski, Edmund Wasilewski, Cyprian and Ludwik Norwid, and others. All of them acted in an era when Polish society began to recover from the apathy into which it fell after 1831 d. Like their great predecessors, they extolled feeling as a force that can do more than cold reason. The intensity of feeling, however, was no longer as great as that of the romantics, and could not create such works of art as the literature of the first half of the 19th century shines with. The democratic-progressive ideas of the new poets were expressed almost exclusively in the form of small lyric poems, which almost all did not survive their era. The activity of Arthur Bartels († 1885), called the Polish Beranger, dates back to the same time. The greatest talent of this partly revolutionary movement was Cornel of Uey (1824-1897). His “Biblical Melodies” and “The Complaints of Jeremiah” borrow plots from the Old Testament, but they draw an analogy between the destinies of Judea and Poland. Ueysky managed to touch the hearts of his contemporaries; his “Chorale” became the national song. With the exception of Pol and Kondratovich, all other poets of the era 1840-63. strived for a revolution and were the spokesmen for the ideas that caused the uprising. Their influence was especially strong on the younger generation. Two currents formed - one stormy, the other calm; the goal of one was a coup, the other - gradual internal reform; the expression of the first was poetry, the second - the novel and story. A new story in Poland appeared at the end of the 18th century, when Princess Czartoryska wrote (for the common people) the book “Pielgrzym w Dobromilu”, and her daughter, Princess of Württemberg, wrote the sentimental novel “Malwina czyli domyślność serca” and several stories for the peasant people. Kropinsky, Bernatovich, Elizaveta Yarachevskaya, Klementina Tanskaya, and Goffman belong to the same group of sentimental writers. Most remarkable of all is Joseph Ignatius Krashevsky (see), according to the correct remark of Khmelevsky, who always strived for the golden mean. He did not seek or discover new directions in the field of ideas, but tried to reflect all possible manifestations of the cultural life of his people. In a moderate form, it was affected by romanticism, and the idealization of everything native that replaced it, and national revolutionary aspirations, and, finally, the confidence that only calm, peaceful and tireless work serves as the most reliable means of achieving the goal. When the positivistic trend began, Krashevsky was at first afraid of the dominance of extreme materialism, but then more and more inclined to admit that taking reality into account means promoting the implementation of ideals corresponding to the available reserve of strength. In his artistic style, Krashevsky was a realist in the full sense of the word, and at the beginning of his activity one can even find some features that characterize the later representatives of French naturalism. Joseph Korzhenevsky (q.v.) differed from Krashevsky mainly in that he pursued more progressive tendencies in his novels and dramatic works, armed himself against the prejudices of the gentry and was a deeper psychologist. Reality was idealized by Pyotr Bykovsky, Julius Count Strutynsky (Berlich Sas), Ignatius Chodzko, Mikhail Tchaikovsky, Edmund Choetsky, Maria Ilnitskaya, Jadwiga Lushchevskaya (Deotyma), and others. Among the energetic champions of democratic ideas is Sigismund Milkowski (Theodor-Tomasz Jerz), who carried out even historical novels have their own tendencies. Progressive ideas also found defenders in the persons of Jan Zakharyasevich and Anton Petkevich (Adam Ploog). The now forgotten Ludwik Štyrmer (who wrote under the pseudonym Eleonora Štyrmer) possessed subtle psychological analysis. A very popular satirical writer was August Wilkonsky.

The era that followed 1864 resembled to a certain extent the era that followed the war of 1831. The failed attempt at insurrection, even more strongly than then, ruined dreams of political independence and turned the thoughts of the new generation in a different direction. The leading role began to shift to the periodical press. The number of newspapers and magazines has increased over the years; New ideas began to be preached in their columns, causing passionate polemics on the part of the epigones of the previously dominant movement. In order to spread enlightenment among the masses, cheap popular books were published whose authors rebelled against idealism and speculative philosophy and defended scientific methods based on observation and experience. An energetic development of economic issues in connection with the needs of the country began. Among the younger generation, the slogan has become “organic labor,” unnoticeable but tireless, striving to increase material and spiritual well-being. This movement was facilitated by the opening of a university in Warsaw called the Main School. Older poets either stopped writing or did not receive the same sympathy. Of the young, some protested against the new time, “devoid of ideals,” while others followed the general mood of the era. Society turned away from poetry, partly because it was occupied mainly with material concerns caused by the destruction of the former lordly-serf economic system, and partly because it did not see in poets the aspirations with which it itself was imbued. A critical look at poetic works generally extended to literary and social authorities. The main organ of this public criticism became the weekly “Przegląd Tygodniowy”, then “Prawda”. Of the two Warsaw monthly magazines, Ateneum was and still is in a progressive direction, while Biblioteka Warszawska has a conservative tint. Young writers called themselves positivists, understanding positivism not in a closely philosophical sense, but as a set of progressive elements in all manifestations of life. Around the middle of the 70s, the struggle between directions calmed down and softened; both sides influenced each other to some extent. The newspapers started talking louder about the Slavic idea; in 1885 Przyborowsky founded the newspaper “Chwila”, expressing the idea that it was time to leave the “politics of the heart” and, on the basis of Slavic reciprocity, embrace the politics of reason and broad horizons. This first conciliatory attempt was not successful, but her thought did not freeze and over time created a strong party, the organs of which are currently mainly the St. Petersburg “Kraj” and the Warsaw “Słowo”. In Galicia, similar work was going on, with the difference that already after 1866, publicists there began to resolve political issues. The country received autonomy; Following this, voices began to be heard loudly, urging him to abandon revolutionary thoughts and be loyal to the Austrian monarchy. One of the most outstanding phenomena of this time was the brochure “Teka Stańczyka”. for which the whole monarchist party received the nickname “Stanchikov”. The organ of the party was and remains “Czas”. Recently, the peasant and partly socialist movement has strongly manifested itself, but it is still little reflected in Polish literature, although a school of poets is emerging, calling itself “Young Poland.” The Poles in the Duchy of Poznań are making every effort to protect their people from the pressure of Germanism. And there there is a struggle between conservative and progressive, often even extreme ideas, but the popular forces, engaged in the struggle for existence, do little to enrich literature. In all three parts of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, they care more than before about the moral and mental needs of the common people. One of the most ardent defenders of the interests of the people was the Warsaw weekly Głos. All the ideas and trends outlined above were reflected in the literature of the last period: weaker in lyric poetry, stronger and deeper in drama, and especially in the novel, which became the everyday spiritual food of a huge mass of readers from all classes of the people. The most prominent representative of the last thirty years in the field of lyric poetry was Adam Asnyk, who died in 1897. He was particularly distinguished by his virtuosity of form and responsiveness to a wide variety of moods. Maria Konopnitskaya stands next to Asnyk. She is deeply shocked by the plight of all the unfortunate and oppressed, and she ardently stands up for them; in her poetry there is a certain rhetorical quality, but there is also a genuine feeling with great elegance of form. Both of these poets tried their hand at drama; Konopnitskaya also gained fame for her short stories in prose. Victor Gomulicki can be called a singer of nature and feeling, whose gentle brush, however, sometimes draws pictures that are distinguished by considerable strength in a pathetic and satirical tone. Of his prosaic works, the collection of sketches from life under the title is very valuable. "Zielony Kajet". In the small poems of Felician of Falen there is more wit and grace than feeling; in his dramatic works (Krakow, 1896 and 1898), violent passions are depicted rather coldly and do not make such a stunning impression on the reader as one might expect from the nature of the plots. Vaclav Szymanowski, Leonard Sowinski, Vladimir Vysotski and others wrote short epic poems. Vladimir Zagursky, under the pseudonym Khokhlika, publishes satirical poems; Nikolai Bernatsky's satires sometimes have the character of a pamphlet. Modern P. comedy reflects various manifestations of social life in a light satirical or dramatic light; it provides a varied gallery of characters and is distinguished by its stage presence, good style, and liveliness of action. Among the authors of comedies, the most famous are Jan-Alexander Fredro (son of Alexander), Joseph Narzymsky, Joseph Blizinsky, Eduard Lyubovsky, Kazimir Zalevsky, Mikhail Balutsky, Sigismund Sarnetsky, Sigismund Przybylsky, Alexander Mankovsky, Daniil Zglinsky, Sofia Meller, Gabriela Zapolskaya, Mikhail Volovsky , Adolf Abragamovich, Felix Schober. Historical drama has not reached the same level of development as comedy and does not arouse as much interest in society: Joseph Shuisky, Adam Beltsikovsky, Vikenty Rapacki, Bronislav Grabovsky, Kazimir Glinsky, Julian Lentovsky, Stanislav Kozlovsky, Jan Gadomsky are valued by readers, but their dramas are rarely staged. stage. The public prefers drama on contemporary themes, the main representatives of which are Alexander Świętochowski, Wacław Karczewski and Władysław Rabski. In the field of the latest Polish novel and story, the character of the era is expressed much more clearly, comprehensively and deeply than in lyric poetry, comedy and drama. The technology in this area has improved significantly; the variety of plots, characters, trends, and shades is very great. Henryk Sienkiewicz, Boleslaw Prus and Eliza Orzeszko are well known far beyond the borders of Poland and especially in Russia. Among the literary debutants of recent years, Vladislav Reymont and Vaclav Seroshevsky-Sirko and others stand out. Clemens Yunosha-Shanyavsky (died in 1898), who excellently portrayed peasants, Jews and small landed gentry, stands high in sincerity and feeling; his language is unusually flexible, his presentation is full of humor. Julian Wieniawski (Jordan) and Jan Lam († 1866) have a more developed comic-satirical element. Mikhail Balutsky very aptly and wittily condemns various shortcomings of Polish society, especially the gentry and aristocracy. Ignatius Maleevsky (North) is especially famous for his stories from peasant life. An excellent novel from this area was written by Vaclav Karczewski (Yasenchik), under the title: “To Welgem” (St. Petersburg, 1898). Adam Dygasinsky is also a good connoisseur of rural life and an excellent painter of the animal world. Other modern novelists adhere for the most part to the idealistic-realistic manner that has dominated the Polish novel since the time of Kraszewski. There were, however, attempts to create a novel in the style of French naturalism. The latest Western European trends in the field of poetry were also reflected in the work of Polish poets of the younger generation: decadence, symbolism, mixed, however, with a protest against the dominance of material interests, found in them ardent admirers. In 1897, a special literary organ “Życie” was founded by Ludwik Szczepanski, which printed the fruits of the inspiration of “Young Poland” in its columns. The magazine proves that there is now a turn towards individualism, especially in literature: the place of public understanding of literature should be taken by the literature of individualists (samotnikòw) and “moods” (nastrojowcòw), which has its source in the state of mind of the younger generation. The most prominent representative of this trend is Stanislav Przhibyshevsky, who also writes in German. The most important textbook on the history of literature in Russian belongs to V. D. Spasovich (“History of Slavic Literatures” by Pypin and Spasovich, St. Petersburg, 1879). The main manuals in Polish: Mikhail Wisniewski, “Historja literatury polskiej” (Krakow, 1840-1857); Waclaw Maciejewski, “Piśmienictwo polskie” (Warsaw, 1851-52); Zdanovich and Sowinski, “Rys dziejów literatury polskiej” (Vilno, 1874-1878); Kondratovich, “Dzieje literatury w Polsce” (Vilno, 1851-1854 and Warsaw, 1874; Russian translation by Kuzminsky was published in Moscow in 1862); Bartoshevich, “Historja literatury polskiej” (Krakow, 1877); Kulichkovsky (Lvov, 1873); Dubetsky (Warsaw, 1889); Bigeleisen, with illustrations (Vienna, 1898); see also Nitschmann, “Geschichte der polnischen Litteratur” (2nd ed., Leipzig, 1889). There are many monographs; the most important ones are listed above by period and in articles about individual writers. The history of literature of recent times includes the works of Khmelevsky: “Zarys najnowszej literatury polskiej” (1364-1897; St. Petersburg, 1898); “Współcześni poeci polscy” (St. Petersburg, 1895); “Nasi powieściopisarze” (Krakow, 1887-1895); “Nasza literatura dramatyczna” (St. Petersburg, 1898). In Russian, an outline of the new moods of Polish literature is given in the article “The Mental Turn in Polish Literature” by S. Vengerov (“Foundations”, 1882) and in the “Polish Library” by R. I. Sementkovsky. Bibliographical aids: Estreicher, “Bibliografja polska” (so far 15 volumes, Krakow, Academy edition, 1870-1898), and prof. P. Verzhbovsky, “Bibliographia Polonica XV ac XVI Sc. "(Warsaw, 1889).

Poland is a great country, in the history of which there are a large number of outstanding people who have made significant contributions to the development of society, science, religion, politics and creativity throughout the world. Our portal has tried to collect the names of all these people, and add a brief description of their contribution.

Politicians, statesmen and national heroesPoland

Lech Walesa - one of the most prominent presidents of Poland

John Paul II (1920-2005). The most famous Pole in the whole world, Pope John Paul II, was born in the Polish town of Wadowice. His real name is Karol Jozef Wojtyla. He was elected head of the Catholic Church in 1978. For the first time in four hundred and forty-five years of this post, the Pope was not an Italian, but John Paul II, a Pole. He carried out internal reforms of the church and changed the image of the Vatican in the eyes of the international community. Likewise, John Paul II made many pilgrimages around the world with thousands of believers. He constantly kept in touch with representatives of other faiths.

The first president of post-war Poland who was not a communist, he also founded the Polish Solidarity movement. Lech Walesa played an important role in the breakdown of the post-war order in Europe and the end of the Cold War. This puts him on the same level as such famous personalities as: John Paul II and Mikhail Gorbachev

Zbigniew Brzezinski. He was born in 1928, in the city of Warsaw, from 1977 to 1981 he served as a security consultant to the President of the United States. In 1981, he was awarded the Medal of Freedom for his participation in the normalization of US-China relations, for his involvement in American security policy and his active defense of human rights.

Joseph Pilsudski. He is indisputably the most important personality in the first half of the twentieth century. At least twice, the activities of Joseph Pilsudski influenced the fate of European citizens. In 1918 Poland won independence, and in 1920 it resisted the expansion of Bolshevism in Western Europe.

Tadeusz Mazowiecki. He was the commander-in-chief of the national uprising to defend the Constitution and the sovereignty of the Polish state in 1794. During the fighting at Saratoga for American independence, Tadeusz Kosciuszko distinguished himself with his engineering and military talent.

Kazimir Pulaski. He was the leader of the “lordly conference” and defended Jasnaya Gora. During the American Revolutionary War, he was a cavalry leader on the side of George Washington. He died due to serious injuries received in the battle near Savannah.

Richard Kuklinski. A colonel who served in the National Polish Army, who decided to cooperate with CIA intelligence for NATO. There are suggestions that during the Cold War he managed to transfer thirty-five thousand pages of secret documents to the CIA. These documents concerned the USSR's plans to use nuclear weapons. As well as the introduction of martial law in Poland.

Eminent KingsPoland

Boleslaw the Brave - first king of Poland

Son of the Czech princess Dubrava and Meshka I. After his father died, he expelled his second wife and her sons from the country. When the kingdoms united, he tried to ascend the throne. To do this, he entered into diplomatic relations with the Vatican and the German Empire. In 999, thanks to Boleslav the Brave, Bishop Adalbert was canonized, who died a painful death. The first archbishopric was established in the year 1000 in the city of Gniezno, and a congress was held there, which was of great political importance, even Emperor Otto III was there.

Casimir the Great. During the reign of Casimir the Great, Poland had both territorial and economic power. The following generations nicknamed him “The Great” because they valued his participation in the establishment of the political system in Poland. There is even a saying dedicated to Casimir the Great, it goes like this: “he accepted Poland as wooden, but left it as stone.”

Jan Sobieski. He achieved fame due to the fact that he proved himself to be a seasoned military commander-in-chief and an excellent strategist during the war against Turkey.

Stanislav August Poniatowski. Stanislav ascended the throne in 1764, he came from a family of magnates. Patron of art and science. He was also one of the founders of the Constitution.

Prominent writers and poetsPoland

Adam Mickiewicz - world famous Polish singer

The era of romanticism in Poland began with the publication of the book by the Polish folk singer “Ballads and Romances” in 1822. The famous drama "Grandfathers" assigned Poland a special role as a liberator of nations, whose martyrdom is comparable only to the martyrdom of Jesus Christ.

Witold Gombrowicz. In 1937 he created “Ferdydurke” and other satirical works. The main theme of the playwright's work was the imperfection of human nature.

Henryk Sienkiewicz. A prose writer who wrote Quo Vadis, books that were translated into many languages ​​and even filmed, he won the Nobel Prize in Literature. The formation of his work was influenced by the fact that the author had a Catholic worldview. His numerous works have been translated into fifty languages.

Czeslaw Milosz. A versatile personality who is a poet, writer, translator and literary critic. In 1980 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. The poetry of Czeslaw Miłosz is filled with autobiographical themes and memories of emigration.

Wieslawa Szymborska. The woman is a poet and translator. In 1996 she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Wieslawa's first works were in the style of socialist realism. Szymborska wrote, filled with pessimism, discussions about the future of humanity, in an ironic form.

Richard Kapustinsky. A journalist and writer, he loved to travel and recorded reports from different countries, such as Latin America, Asia, Africa. From his many works, such as “Heban,” you can see that it was Africa that was close to the writer’s heart.

Prominent musiciansPoland

Frederic Chopin is a Polish composer whose music is loved all over the world.

Brilliant musician of the nineteenth century. He spent most of his life in Paris. The composer worked during the period of romanticism. He brought innovations to the world of piano music. Frederic Chopin has an exceptionally expressive style, which was reflected first in two piano concertos.

Krzysztof Penderecki. He is an honorary member of many universities, winner and recipient of many awards at famous music competitions. Also in 2000, at the Cannes festival, Krzysztof received the award for best composer.

Henryk Nikolai Gurecki. Became the first composer of classical music. His works are very popular, and the recorded symphony number three has sold more than a thousand copies.

Stanislav Monyushko. Considered the father of Polish opera. His operatic creations lifted the spirit of the Polish people during the division of the country.

Witold Lutoslawski. One of the most important musicians of the twentieth century. He was born in 1913, in the city of Warsaw. Witold Lutosławski's musical talent arose from his youth.

Witold Preisner. He became the most famous creator of music for films. His musical compositions for the films “Decalogue” and “The Double Life of Veronica” brought him worldwide fame. He also won numerous music awards, such as the Silver Bear and others.

Urszula Dudziak. The vocalist was the ex-wife of Mikhail Urbanyak, who was a jazz musician. She was more popular in the USA than in Poland. Urszula Dudziak began her career in the fifties, quickly becoming a popular jazz performer. In the sixties and seventies, after her overseas trips, she later lived in New York.

Barbara Trzetshelevska. This singer is also known as Basya. In the seventies, after moving to the UK, she gained international popularity. Matt Bianco worked as a vocalist in the group. Her first album was released in 1987. Most of her songs became British hits. Despite this, in Poland he remains almost unknown.

Outstanding discoverers, inventors, scientistsPoland

Nicolaus Copernicus is the founder of modern astronomy, whose discoveries were ahead of their time

Became the creator of modern astronomy. He was born in 1473 in the city of Toruń. He became famous thanks to his works on the rotation of celestial bodies, in which he presented the heliocentric theory, which gave direction to all subsequent research.

Marie Curie-Skłodowska. Discovered the radioactive chemical element radium. Which was a huge step in the development of atomic physics. The woman had great drive and determination. She was completely devoted to science. She died due to an illness caused by contact with a radioactive element.

Jan Heveliusz. The astronomer from the city of Gdansk was famous in the seventeenth century. He studied the movement of comets. He became the creator of a catalog of stars and compiled the first map of the surface of the moon. Therefore, one crater of the moon is named after him.

Henryk Arctowski. A great scientist and oceanologist, explored Antarctica. They named after him a certain effect that he studied, emerging clouds of ice, consisting of crystals, it is called the “Astrvsky arc”

Ernst Malinovsky. He created a section of the railway that connects the territory of Peru with the Antarctic coast. Ernst Malinovsky also took part in the development of science.

Casimir Funk. Famous, Polish origin, biochemist. He studied in Berlin, and later his research activities began in various centers of science, Paris, Berlin and London. During the First World War, he moved to the United States and already received citizenship in 1920. Vitamin B1 was derived from rice bran, namely by Casimir Funk. The scientist also investigated the causes of various diseases, ulcers, cancer and diabetes. He was the creator of new medicines.

Ludwig Zamenhof. Born in Bialystok and was a Jew of Polish origin. The most famous doctor and linguist. He created the artificial international language Esperanto. According to his plans, this language was supposed to connect people of different nationalities. Nowadays, more than eight million people speak Esperanto.

Korczak Ziulkowski. The architect was an American of Polish descent. He never studied art anywhere, so he was considered a self-taught sculptor. In his youth, experimenting, he created sculptures from stone and wood. When the Mount Rushmore monument was created in 1939, Korczak Ziulkowski also took part in it.

Outstanding athletes of Poland

Dariusz Michalczewski - outstanding boxer, Polish tiger

Irina Shevinska. From eighteen to thirty-four years of life, Irina’s sports career lasted, she had many victories. Taking part in the Olympic Games, she won seven medals, three of which were gold. She set the world record more than five times and became the first woman to break the record at distances of one hundred, two hundred and four hundred meters.

Andrzej Golota. The most famous Polish boxer, who received one hundred and eleven victories in Europe. In 1988 he was awarded bronze medals. Participated in fights with the strongest boxers in the world.

Adam Malysh. Famous Polish ski jumping athlete. In Harrachov, he won a gold medal in the ski flying competition. In Sapporo, Salt Lake City, Trondheim, Holmenkolen and Falne, he became a ski jumping champion. Won the World Cup twice. Thanks to Adam Malysh, ski jumping has become almost a national sport.

Casimir Deyna. Also known by his nickname “Rogal” (pretzel). Became the most famous Polish footballer of all time thanks to his spectacular goals.

Robert Kozeniowski. The most famous athlete in the whole world in race walking. He won four Olympic gold medals, in Atlanta, Sydney and Athens.

Zbigniew Boniek. Talented Polish football player. He started his career at twenty years old. They scored twenty-four goals in eighty meetings. In 1980, after finishing his football career, he became an entrepreneur. He is the vice-president of the Polish Football Union, also a coach of the Polish National Representation.

An athlete who has set numerous records in boxing. His career began in the city of Gdansk. In 1999 he became a sports coach. Dariusz Michalczewski has an unusual and slightly aggressive fighting style, which is why he took the pseudonym “Tiger”.

Famous film figures from Poland

Joanna Patsula is a world-famous Polish actress.

Roman Polyansky. A very famous Polish engineer. Oscar winner. There were many tragedies in his life, which could not but affect his works. He miraculously managed to survive in the Warsaw ghetto.

Andrzej Wajda. Famous cinema that beautifully filmed Polish literature. In 2003 he won an Oscar.

Krzysztof Kieszlowski. He began by creating documentaries in which he filmed the life of communist Poland and the images of individual people.

Janusz Kaminski. He is an American cinematographer and director of Polish origin. In 2000, he directed the film Lost Souls for the first time. In 1993 he collaborated with Steven Spielberg. He won the British Academy Film Award (BAFTA) and many others.

Krystyna Yanda. The most famous Polish actress. She starred in films by Andrzej Wajda. She gained fame thanks to films with political orientations that were created during the Thaw period. Now she performs in the theater and is also a stage director for performances.

Jerzy Skolimowski. Original Eastern European director. Studied at the Film Institute in Lodz. I tried my hand at the British film world. Jerzy Skolimowski's films raise weighty themes, imbued with his unusual imagination, which has given him worldwide critical acclaim.

Andrzej Severin. Film and theater actor. Studied at the Warsaw Actor's School. He starred in such films as “Slaves” and “The Promised Land”. Later he began his career in Paris. He starred in the leading role in the French film Don Juan.

Isabella Scorupco. She was born in Bialystok, actress and fashion model. When I was a little girl I moved with my mother to Sweden. At the age of seventeen, director Staffan Hildebrand noticed her and cast her in a film called “Nobody Loves Like Us,” the girl became a teen idol. She traveled a lot, tried herself as a singer, and worked as a fashion model. But then she returned to filming again and played a role in more than one film, for example: “With Fire and Sword”, “The Limits of Endurance”, “Lords of Fire” and others.

Famous actress of Polish origin. In 1981, she had to move to the United States of America. There her career as an actress and fashion model began. Ioanna Patsula works with popular Hollywood directors. She starred in such productions as “The Kiss”, “Gorky Park” and others.

Literature of Poland XVIII century

Introduction

The 18th century in the history of Poland is a century of decline and national disasters. “This noble republic, based on robbery and oppression of peasants, was in a state of complete disorder; its constitution made any national action impossible and therefore doomed the country to the position of easy prey for its neighbors. Since the beginning of the eighteenth century, Poland, as the Poles themselves put it, has been in disorder.”

At the end of the century, as a result of three partitions, Poland lost its independence. The gloomy prospects for the future fate of Poland were understood in the 18th century by the most far-sighted minds, even among Polish aristocrats. Stanislav Leszczynski, elected but not allowed to the Polish throne, proposed in his political treatise “Free Voice” (1733) to strengthen the state apparatus and eliminate the serfdom of the peasants. He wrote: “We owe everything we are famous for to the common people. Obviously, I could not be a nobleman if the clap were not a clap. The plebeians are our breadwinners; they bring treasures out of the earth for us; from their work we have wealth, from their labor the wealth of the state. They bear the burden of taxes and provide recruits; if they didn’t exist, we ourselves would have to become farmers, so instead of saying: master of gentlemen, we should say: master of claps.”

The weakness of the central government, the excesses of the feudal lords, the extreme poverty of the peasantry, cultural savagery - this is what is characteristic of “old barbarian, feudal, aristocratic Poland, resting on the enslavement of the majority of the people” (F. Engels).

Martin Matuszewicz

The internal discord and anarchy in the state are depicted in the famous “Memoirs” of one of the major state dignitaries of the time, the castellan of Brestlitovo, Martin Matuszewicz (1714-1768).

Without destining his notes for publication, Matuszewicz spoke with all frankness about the orders and morals of contemporary Poland, about behind-the-scenes intrigues, bribery, and sometimes violence that were inflicted on deputies of Sejms and Sejmiks or on deputies of judicial tribunals. For example, here is a description of the trial of one inheritance lawsuit: “The case lasted three weeks, finally, when the deputy of the Radziwill party, Gornitsky, was given a laxative, so that he was not able to appear at the meeting, then by one vote of the majority, Father Koadyotor Vilensky won the case for custody of the property of their nephews and themselves.” In some cases, they resorted to murder in order to eliminate unwanted persons who could influence the voting results. Matuszewicz reports on cash subsidies received by officials from foreign countries with naive simplicity, even trying to justify those who betrayed their homeland for the sake of handouts. “Was it really a state crime for people who were under such severe oppression to accept anything from the French king, so great?” - Matuszewicz asks naively.

A bright gallery of portraits of Polish magnates, depraved, unbridled, despotic, passes before the eyes of readers of Matuszewicz’s “Memoirs”. This is how he describes Karol Radziwill, the largest Polish nobleman. “The prince loved to beat, and it is difficult to describe what recklessness he did when drunk: he shot at people, rushed around on horseback, or went to church and sang prayers until he shouted out and came to sobriety.” The smaller ones behaved no better. This is what the author of “Memoirs” says about his mother: “My mother, having arrived in Goslitsy (the estate of the Matushevichs - S.A.), found some kind of disorder there, and since the nobleman Lastovsky was the manager there, she ordered him to be beaten lashes on the naked body so hard that this Lastovsky died.” Matuszewicz’s “memoirs” were published a hundred years after they were written, in 1874, in Warsaw by Pawicki.

Discontent was brewing in the depths of the masses. The people were burdened by dependence on foreign states, the anarchy and disorder that reigned in the country, the disorder of life and their plight. Popular protest resulted in a national liberation uprising in 1794, led by Tadeusz Kościuszko.

The scale of the popular movement frightened the large nobility of Poland, and they preferred to partition the country, to renounce national sovereignty, rather than allow the revolution that had just occurred in France. “...He was the last resort for the large aristocracy from the revolution...”

The cultural life of Poland was quite active. Many magazines appeared (by the end of the century their number reached 90). The tragedies of Corneille, Racine, and later “Emilia Galotti” by Lessing and “The School of Scandal” by Sheridan were published in translation into Polish. Voltaire was especially translated a lot. Wojciech Boguslawski translated Shakespeare's Hamlet.

The literature mainly contained educational ideas and was predominantly satirical in nature.

Adam Narushevich

He was a great master of political satire Adam Narushevich (1733-1796), a widely educated man, who visited France, Italy, Germany, and at one time occupied the department of literature at the Vilna Academy. The most famous are his satires “To the Poles of Old Time” and “The Voice of the Dead” 1. “Treason, extortion, assaults are considered virtues, because gentlemen robbers have money, coats of arms and estates, and you, poor man, for theft will again go to feed greedy ravens with your body,” the poet wrote gloomily.

Adam Narushevich was a major historian of Poland. Over the course of six years, he wrote the seven-volume History of the Polish People. This was the first scientific work on the history of the country, based on reliable sources. Narushevich somewhat idealized antiquity in order to contrast it with modernity. The political tendency of his “History...” is very obvious: to glorify the idea of ​​national unity, strong centralized state power.

Ignatius Krasitsky

The main exponent of the Polish Enlightenment was Ignatius Krasicki (1735-1801). By his origin and position, Krasicki was a major Polish aristocrat. A relative of King Stanisław August Poniatowski, he was appointed Bishop of Warmia in 1766. The position of one of the major dignitaries of the church did not prevent him from becoming the head of the Polish educational movement. A man of broad and versatile knowledge, who followed the development of advanced social thought in England and France, he did a lot for Russian culture.

In 1775, his poem “Mouseyda” was published. An ancient legend about the legendary Tsar Popel, eaten by mice for cruelty to the people, was told by the historian Kadlubek in the 12th century. This legend was used by Krasicki for a satirical depiction of feudal-gentry Poland.

Popel and his favorite, the cat Mruchislav, organized a great persecution of mice. The kingdom of mice is in turmoil. A mouse meeting is gathering. In the scene of the meeting of the mouse and rat council, a witty satire is given on the Polish Sejm, on the ever-present discord in it, which hinders any reasonable decision.

And the bot met in a luxurious room

Nobles...

And at that very moment the meeting split.

And the noise and din are clamor, not advice;

Gryzomir himself on the throne and with his retinue

He screams about freedom, about protection

Fatherland, and therefore there is no grief.

They responded with only one thing: “As you wish,

Let freedom perish - it’s not a problem!”

And they went their separate ways in peace!

(Translation M. Pavlova.)

Three years after the publication of “The Mice,” Krasicki published his satirical anti-clerical poem “Monachomachy,” which caused a stir in the camp of Polish churchmen, especially since the blow came from one of the princes of the church. Krasicki was often called the “Polish Voltaire”. He was truly a man of the most free views, an opponent of all hypocrisy, and he took the position of a clergyman involuntarily, at the insistence of his father, who did not allocate him part of the inheritance, not wanting to fragment his huge possessions. Krasitsky treated the monks with undisguised contempt; he rarely visited his diocese, living more in Warsaw, studying science and literature.

The educational tendency of the poem is outlined from the very first lines, from the description of a poor country in which

Three taverns and three gates left,

There are dozens of little houses and monasteries.

In this country

Losing track of the years

Holy stupidity lived peacefully,

Choosing to cover God's temple.

(Translation M. Pavlova.)

The poem, of course, does not contain those sharp attacks against the church that we see in the anti-clerical literature of the French enlighteners, but it was enough that the monks appeared in a stupid and funny form. The church servants were indignant. Complaints and denunciations began to fly against the author of the poem, and Krasitsky, in order to pacify them, wrote the poem “Antimonachomachy,” in which, in a conciliatory tone, he recommended that the monks calm down and reduced his attack against them to a harmless joke. -

Nevertheless, the poem "Monachomachy" played a significant role in the Polish Enlightenment, instilling in readers a spirit of religious skepticism. Ignatius Krasitsky was an extraordinary prose writer. He wrote the stories “The Adventures of Nikolai Dosvyadchinsky”, “Pan Podstoly” and others.

The first story is written in the genre of an educational philosophical novel. Feudal-gentry Poland with all its vices is contrasted with a utopian society of savages living according to the Rousseauist ideal - in the lap of nature, far from civilization. The hero of the story, Nikolai Dosvyadchinsky, having experienced a lot and seen a lot in the world, returns to his homeland to honestly serve it, respect the work of the peasants, and be a humane landowner.

Krasicki, imitating Voltaire, wrote the Polish epic “The Khotyn War” in the spirit of his “Henriad”. His poem, full of allegorical figures (“Glory”, “Faith”, etc.), is cold and abstract. Krasicki translated a lot, trying to expand the reading circle of his compatriots: “The Songs of Ossian”, the works of Lucian and Plutarch.