Debiuty Mickiewicza – sławne, zauważone i niepamiętane

Abstract

A debut does not have to be connected with being young. Mickiewicz had his debuts in many fields. Metonymically speaking (i.e. pars pro toto), I draw attention only to some of them here: the famous ones, the acknowledged ones and the ones that remained unmemorable, and then even those that had a legendary status. The public exam or the oratory show of the 9-year old graduate of the county (powiat) school in Novogrudok is counted by researchers as legendary. Those who like to tell anecdotes claim that the first literary piece bearing the hallmarks of poetry was a four-line rhyme about a devil sitting ‘na daszku’ (on the roof) not far from ‘Damaszku’ (Damascus), improvised by little Adam during class. Another legend relates to a poem inspired by a fire in Novogrudok that broke out in October 1811 (the original text was not preserved, however there were reportedly many copies of it). Zima miejska (City Winter) is the poem to open collected works and poems of Mickiewicz. It is the undisputed poetic debut in a journal. Mickiewicz’s book debut took place four years later, when he published a small book of poetry including among others Ballady i romanse (Ballads and Romances). His prose debut came earlier, when he announced his short story Żywila (“Tygodnik Wileński”, 28 February 1819). One shall also note his scientific debut (literary criticism) in “Pamiętnik Warszawski” in 1819; the January issue included Mickiewicz’s article Uwagi nad „Jagiellonidą” Dyzmasa Bończy Tomaszewskiego (Remarks to Dyzma Bończa-Tomaszewski’s “Jagiellonida”). He gave his first – debut – lecture in Switzerland in Lausanne on 12 November 1839. He debuted in Paris in Collège de France with a lecture on 22 December 1840 as part of a course on Slavic literature. Before Mickiewicz became involved in publishing “La Tribune des Peuples” (“Trybuna Ludów”, The People’s Tribune), twenty years earlier, he had been the editor of “Pielgrzym Polski” (The Polish Pilgrim) and over a decade earlier he had been planning a Philomathic almanac first titled “Hebe” and then “Primula veris”. He debuted in “Pielgrzym Polski” with an unsigned review of a book important for the Great Emigration. The book was Powstanie na Wołyniu, czyli pamiętnik pułku jazdy wołyńskiej pisany przez dowódcę jej, Karola Różyckiego (The Uprising in Volhynia. The diary of the Volhynia Regiment written by its commander, Karol Różycki), Bourges, 1832, in-8°, pp. 33 and the review was published in the issue of 4 November 1832. “La Tribune des Peuples,” on the other hand, was a political newspaper published in French also in Paris (from 13 March until 13 June and again from 1 October until 10 November 1849), founded and edited by Mickiewicz. Although his name does not appear on the pages of the paper (apart from the information of 16 October 1849, signing – under pressure from the Russian Embassy in Paris – the declaration of resignation of all Poles from the editorial office), researchers managed to establish he was the author of more than seventy articles, mostly of an introductory nature or polemics regarding current political affairs. I called such unsigned debuts “second-rate debuts”. Even if we mentioned all Mickiewicz’s debuts, some more and some less successful, we must also remember that he – like all of us – had one more debut ahead of him, namely the last and irrevocable debut of death. And this debut was not a private matter, and it turned into a legend. It marked the beginning of the poet’s “posthumous life.”