Jordan. Fantazja dramatyczna. Pisma

Abstract

Edward Witold Żeligowski is one of the least remembered writers and personas of Polish Romantic literature. Commonly referred to as an “epigone”, he has never become the subject of deeper analysis. One might say that he was unlucky and never evoked great interest in the history of Polish literature. This might have resulted from the fact that, although he was a nobleman himself, he raised social issues and called for reforms (including the issue of peasantry), that history was to realise in the twentieth century in a bizarre rendition of utopia. Another reason might have been that he had moved a lot; he never formed permanent bonds with any of the circles with which he had lived and written for years. He was also quite unlucky as a writer: the play entitled Zorski (the second part of Jordan (1846, 2nd edition 1847, 3rd edition 1880), the play that brought its author patriotic fame and led him into exile into the depths of Russia) was destroyed during print in 1851, on the order of the Russian general governor. He was born in 1816 in the Vileian Poviat in Marijampole. He was not a member of the youngest generation of Romanticists, as the Polish Romantic writers born after 1820, such as the Bohemians from Warsaw, were younger. He graduated from the Gymnasium in Vilnius. During his studies in Dorpat he joined conspiracy activities (1833-1836), for which he was interned in the town for several years. Further stages of his life were marked by: the return to his home country (1842), publication of the famous Jordan (1847), exile in Petrozavodsk, Orenburg and Ufa, civil service (1856 – 1858), editorial work in St. Petersburg that ended with the suspension of the “Słowo” magazine, emigration and stay in Paris and Montmorency, the broken engagement to Adam Mickiewicz’s daughter Helena Mickiewicz, settling in Geneva, activity supporting Polish emigrants after the January Uprising, and, finally, his death in Geneva in 1864. The writer, who regularly moved from one place of residence to another, remained outside the opinion-forming literary communities that created the mainstream of Polish literary life in Poland and in the emigration circles. During his exile, he met Taras Shevchenko and Bronisław Zaleski, with whom he became friends (which is proven by the poem Do brata (To my Brother) by Taras Shevchenko). As a result, he is often mentioned by Ukrainian scholars today. He translated the poems of Heinrich Heine into Polish language. He maintained a constant dialogue with the ideas and works of Adam Mickiewicz, but, obviously, it could not be considered to be on equal footing, as most of the continuators and polemists of Mickiewicz were with time dubbed as his “epigones”. He published few works: the aforementioned Jordan, Poezje [Poems] in St. Petersburg in 1858, and, in the same year and city, two volumes of prose, entitled Dziś i wczoraj. Rysy biograficzno-obyczajowe. [Yesterday and Today. Biographical Sketches]. His other works, which may still remain in the archives of Polish emigration or in Russian libraries in form of manuscripts, are known only as titles: Szkielety, Wspomnienia z życia i grobu [The Skeletons. Memories from Life and Death], Mnichy [The Monks], Mikołaj. A large amount of his letters and the archives of the associations that he co-created, were burnt in 1944 with the Rapperswil Collection when Warsaw was destroyed. We know of unpublished letters, among others, to Józef Ignacy Kraszewski. The play Zorski was slightly more fortunate: the manuscript that is published here survived, the foreword to the play was published in 1849, in the fifth edition of the “Gwiazda” (Star) magazine, and fragments of the play were published by Leonard Sowiński in the fourth volume of Ateneum of 1884. This publication contains all three volumes of Żeligowski’s literary works that were published before his death, as well as the sequel to Jordan entitled Zorski, which was read from the manuscript by Dr Paweł Wojciechowski. The volume also contains the articles by: literary historian, Dr Paweł Wojciechowski : Edward Żeligowski – poeta walki, rozpaczy i wolności {Edward Żeligowski – the Poet of Fight, Despair, and Freedom] and by the philosopher, Professor Zbigniew Kaźmierczak: Jordan Edwarda Żeligowskiego: w poszukiwaniu zbawczej mocy. [Jordan by Edward Żeligowski. In Search for the Saving Power]. A foreword From the Editors was written by Professor Jarosław Ławski, Head of the Department of Philological Studies “East – West” of the Faculty of Philology of the University of Białystok. The volume was published under the grant of the National Programme for the Development of Humanities, entitled “The Continuation of critical editions of outstanding yet forgotten works of 19ᵗʰ century Polish Romantic literature, in the Academic Publication Series “Black Romanticism” in 12 volumes” (2018-2023). One should hope that this summary of the most important works by Żeligowski will start a discussion about his place in the history of Polish Romantic literature, which is likely not as insignificant, as it was described in the literary history narration until the 21st century.