Pisma rozproszone. Tom II. Eseje i publicystyka 1909-1914

Abstract

Tadeusz Miciński (1873–1918) is a classical author of the Young Poland period. Nonetheless, until recently, many of his works have not been collected and published in a critical edition. He is rightly considered one of the finest lyrical poets, playwrights, and novelists of his time; yet, the interpretation of his literary legacy in textbooks and, indeed, in the research literature is based exclusively on a limited number of better-known texts. Up until recently, the bulk of his poems, essays, and articles has remained scattered in obscure periodicals. To remedy this regrettable situation, the National Programme for the Development of the Humanities issued grant No. 1aH 15 0322 83 for the project titled ‘A scholarly critical edition of Tadeusz Miciński’s dispersed writings in four volumes: essays, lyric poetry, articles.’ The objective of the project is to locate, collect, annotate, and publish his poems and journalism. Volume I, containing articles from the years 1896–1908, was published in 2017. The present volume contains Miciński’s writings from the years 1909–1914 (until July 1914, the month preceding the outbreak of World War I). The texts are grouped in thematic sections; within each section, they appear in the chronological order by the time of first publication. The opening section presents an outline of Miciński's main interests: literary studies and, to a lesser degree, visual arts. Here the reader will find his articles and essays devoted to Artur Oppman, a prominent journalist of the time, the writers Stefan Żeromski, Juliusz Słowacki, Cyprian Norwid, Bolesław Prus, and the painter Anna Zawadzka. The section also includes a tribute to Pencho Slaveykov, a famous Bulgarian poet and author (Poeta Bałkanu [The poet of the Balkans], 1913). It ends with the short preface to the third, and the last, collection of poetry by Karol Jacek Malewski, a poet whose works are little known to the modern reader. The second section is divided into two parts, the first of which deals with the theatre contest held by the Kurier Warszawski daily in 1909. It reveals Miciński’s persona as a polemic theatre critic. In the second part, titled W aurze Hellerau [In the aura of Hellerau], we have collected numerous articles and essays dedicated to the legendary garden city and other associated topics: Jaques-Dalcroze Institute, his famous eurhythmics method, and the Hellerau theatre (Misterium Zwiastowania [The Mystery of Annunciation], 1912). The next section covers a number of recurrent themes from Miciński’s legacy: vitalism (see, in particular, the essay titled Tężyzna narodu [The hardiness of a nation], 1912), the national issue from a historical and contemporary perspective – in the context of places that are of particular significance to the Poles, e.g. Wawel and in the context of a foreign culture and nation: Italy and the Italians (or, to be more precise, the Tuscans), known to Miciński from his travels (see the poetic reportage Forteca marmurów [The Fort of the marbles], 1909). Women issues are tackled in an article about the Enthusiasts (the first feminist association in Poland, active around 1830-1850; the group had links with the underground democratic movement), and a report describing the daily toil of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul. A special place in the volume is occupied by the article Nieszczęścia w Tatrach [Misfortunes in the Tatras], in which Miciński discusses mountain-climbing in the Tatras, a hobby that was growing increasingly popular at the time of publication (1913). An extensive section contains his war correspondences from the Balkans: reports and essays written in Belgrade and Sofia. These are followed by short press articles and expositions concerning Miciński's second novel,Xiądz Faust [Father Faust] (1913), and other specimens of his polemic writings, disputes, and reminiscences (public defence of Wilhelm Feldman, polemics with Józef Albin Herbaczewski, reaction to the imprisonment of Andrzej Niemojewski). The volume concludes with transcripts from lectures delivered by Miciński, among other topics, on Słowacki’s Król-Duch [The Spirit King], followed by a number of annexes containing articles, polemics, and reviews by other authors (including Ignacy Grabowski, Władysław Rabski, Czesław Jankowski, Józef Kotarbiński, Jan Lorentowicz), that appeared in connection with articles included in this volume. The texts included in Volume II of Pisma rozproszone have been prepared for publication and provided with exhaustive annotations by Prof. Wojciech Gutowski (Casimir the Great University in Bydgoszcz) and Dr Urszula M. Pilch (Jagiellonian University). They have also written detailed prefaces in which they discuss Miciński’s essays and articles from the years 1909–1914. The four-volume scholarly edition of Pisma rozproszone by Miciński is edited by Dr Marcin Bajko, the project manager, and Prof. Jarosław Ławski (the East-West Chair of Language and Literature Studies, University of Białystok). Volume III, Eseje i publicystyka: sierpień 1914–1918 [Essays and Articles: August 1914–1918], and Volume IV, Poezje zebrane [Collected Poems] 1896–1918, will be published in 2019.