Noc pielgrzyma. Pisma wierszem i prozą

Abstract

The volume is the first publication after 150 years of the works of an important Polish Romanticist writer, Michał Chodźko, member of the Chodźko family, famous for outstanding individuals, originating from the Lithuanian-Byelorussian lands of the former Commonwealth. Michał Chodźko was a poet, playwright, publicist and historian of Polish emigration. He collaborated with such important figures of Polish culture as Adam Mickiewicz, Andrzej Towiański, Józef Zaliwski and Joachim Lelewel.Michał Borejko Chodźko was born in 1808 in Krzywicze, Wilejski District. He was the younger brother of Aleksander Chodźko (1804–1891), a famous orientalist, Slavist, writer, lecturer at the College de France, and the cousin of the popular Romanticist writer Ignacy Chodźko (1794–1861). He graduated from the secondary school in Minsk and went on to continue his studies at the Faculty of Philosophy of Vilnius University. Michał Chodźko participated in the November Uprising of 1830–1831. After the fall of the uprising, he was arrested in Prussia while trying to escape and imprisoned in Klaipeda. Later he emigrated to France. In 1833, he joined Colonel Józef Zaliwski’s expedition to the Kingdom of Poland aimed at waging guerilla warfare, but that attempt also ended in failure. He returned to Paris via Galicia in 1834. Michał Chodźko was a supporter of the political line of the Polish emigration represented by Joachim Lelewel, an eminent Polish historian and writer. In France, he was active in the Masonic lodge “Les Trinites Indivisibles”, the circle of Polish Carbonari, the Democratic Society, the Union of Polish Emigration, and the Lithuanian and Russian Lands Society. From 1843, together with his wife Maria Eugenia Kątska, he was also an ardent activist of the Circle of the Divine Cause founded by Andrzej Towiański. In 1848, together with Mickiewicz, he formed the Polish Legion in Italy during the Spring of Nations. After its dissolution, he returned to Paris, where he died on 2 May 1879. He spent the last years of his life in poverty. His remains are buried in the Montmartre cemetery. The literary oeuvre of Michał Chodźko includes dramatic poems: Dziesięć obrazów z wyprawy do Polski 1833 r. (Ten images from an expedition to Poland in 1833, Paris 1841), Szymon Konarski. Poema dramatyczne (Szymon Konarski. Dramatic Poems, Paris 1845), Dwa akty (Two Acts, Paris 1845), Noc Pielgrzyma. Urywek z Poematu Ducha (Pilgrim’s Night. Excerpt from the Poem of the Spirit, Paris 1861); poems: Jezioro cudów. Poemat chrześcijański (Lake of Miracles. A Christian Poem, Paris 1857) Zapowiedź poematu nowego. Człowiek wobec Boga i przyrody (Announcement of a New Poem. Man in the Face of God and Nature, Paryż 1876); prose: Wyprawa do Polski w r. 1833 (Expedition to Poland in 1833, Paris 1835), Siedem listów o Legionie Polskim we Włoszech (Seven Letters about the Polish Legion in Italy, Poznań 1850), Adam Mickiewicz i Legion Polski we Włoszech (Adam Mickiewicz and the Polish Legion in Italy, Paris 1862), Żywot Rajmunda Rembielińskiego (The Life of Rajmund Rembieliński, Paris 1862). The monograph fills a gap in the studies of Romanticism. The texts authored by Michał Chodźko had not been reprinted until the 21st century. An expert overview of their reception can be found in the introductory articles by Marta Kowerko-Urbańczyk from the University of Białystok (Michał Borejko Chodźko. Zaangażowany pisarz polityczny (Michał Borejko Chodźko. Committed political writer)) and Mikołaj Sokołowski from the Institute of Literary Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw (Dzieła Michała Chodźki – kilka aspektów estetycznych i pomysłów interpretacyjnych: wprowadzenie do lektury (The works of Michał Chodźko – several aesthetic aspects and interpretative ideas: an introduction to reading)). The aforementioned publications indicate that in the case of Chodźko, critical reception of the author’s works is reduced to just a few titles, including: Polski Słownik Biograficzny (Polish Biographical Dictionary), containing an entry by Władysław Rębalski “Chodźko Michał Borejko (1808–1879)” (1937), the academic textbook Romantyzm (Romanticism) by Alina Witkowska and Ryszard Przybylski (1997), the collective work Mickiewicz: Encyklopedia (Mickiewicz: An Encyclopedia) (2001) and Alina Witkowska’s biographical note in the Anniversary Edition of Adam Mickiewicz’s Dzieła (Works). The nine-hundred-page edition of Michał Chodźko’s writings is published under a grant from the National Programme for the Development of the Humanities entitled “Continuation of critical editions of outstanding, forgotten works of 19th-century Polish Romanticist literature in the Academic Publishing Series ‘Black Romanticism’ in XII volumes” (2017–2022), implemented at the Faculty of Philology of the University of Białystok as part of research on Black Romanticism. The research project and grant were initiated by Prof. Halina Krukowska (1937–2019). The publishing coordinator of the project is Prof. Jarosław Ławski, while the grant is managed by Piotr Stasiewicz, PhD (University of Białystok). The volume was edited by Marta Kowerko-Urbańczyk, PhD - a Polish studies scholar, researcher of literary borderland and Polish-Lithuanian literary relations. The texts were edited and annotated by Marta Kowerko-Urbańczyk, PhD and Krzysztof Rutkowski, PhD – a Russian studies scholar and linguist. This publication is the 53rd out of a total of 62 volumes planned until 2023 as part of the “Black Romanticism” Series.