Debiut i skandal: casus Zapolskiej (z romantykami w tle)

Abstract

The article recalls the scandal related to Gabriela Zapolska’s 1885 literary debut Akwarele (Watercolors). The texts from this book included a short story Małaszka. Jan Ludwik Popławski in his 1885 review Sztandar ze spódnicy (Skirt banner) accused Zapolska, among others, of plagiarism of an unnamed work published in Kharkov. The author points to similarities of the works of a Ukrainian writer Hryhorii Kvitka-Osnovianenko (Biedna Oksana [Poor Oksana], 1841) and a Polish writer Zenon Leonard Fisz (Pokojówka. Szkic obyczajowy [The Maid. A moral sketch], 1850) to Zapolska’s short story. Although the author points out that Fisz was Kvitka-Osnovianenko’s translator, she also emphasizes the difference the same motif of a seduced female servant was portrayed by Kvitka-Osnovianenko, Fisz and Zapolska. He argues that plagiarism was out of the question.