Eliza Orzeszkowa i Najsławniejsze Polki w Ameryce

Abstract

The author of the paper recalls a forgotten book published in 1913 in the United States titled “Najsławniejsze Polki. Opisanie z życia znakomitych kobiet, które swoimi czynami wywarły niezatarty wpływ na życie narodu” (Toledo, Ohio, A. Paryski publishing house). It includes progressive profiles of famous Polish women, such as writers: Maria Konopnicka, Eliza Orzeszkowa, Maria Rodziewiczówna, a philosopher Józefa Kodisowa and a scholar Maria Skłodowska-Curie. The collective book is addressed to Polish-American women, who value the ideals of emancipation of women, education, but also those who have not yet lost their bond with Polish history, national tradition, language. The short profile of Orzeszkowa included in the book points to an innovative way to the hidden values of her works (female writer of old age) and sets at the top of the hierarchy of her works „Cham” and novels such as „Marta”, „On the Niemen - those which offer projects, images, social visions, as well as a vision of a „new” or „other” woman.