Francuskie kartki w literackim archiwum Hanny Malewskiej

Abstract

The paper focuses on the interpretation of three historical novels by Hanna Malewska (1911-1983) which describe certain events in the history of France or portray Polish-French relations. The first novel Kamienie wołać będą (1939) is a literary reconstruction of the image of medieval Paris and Beauvais. The novel's plot develops around the theme of the construction and collapse of a Gothic cathedral. The second novel presented in this paper is Panowie Leszczyńscy (1961) - a story about several generations of the Leszczyński family. The Leszczyńskis, one of whom was Stanisław Leszczyński, king of Poland, were related to some great French aristocratic families. In her book Malewska shows the different attitudes Polish magnates took towards French culture in the 16th and 17th centuries. The third book, Spowiedź w Saint-Germain-des-Prés (1961) is a literary reconstruction of the confession of the Polish king Jan Kazimierz, who died in the Saint-Germain-des-Prés abbey in Paris. The methodology of narration in all Malewska's novels is poetic reconstruction of the past on the basis of archival documents.