Moje rozrywki. Powieści

Abstract

The volume entitled Moje rozrywki. Powieści (My Entertainments. Novels) contains the novels and short stories by Anna Mostowska (1759–1813), one of the most active female authors at the turns of the 18th and 19th centuries. Mostowska introduced Gothic elements to Polish literature. She is considered to be a pioneer of this trend and the “Black Romanticism” tend. However, her writing was constantly accused of not being original, unable to create consistent plots and to deepen the psychological characteristics of literary characters and of linguistic ineptitude. Mostowska was a very creative artist: she wrote novels, tragedies, arias, and letters and she created copper plate drawings. Her life was very rich, even dramatic, although we do not know much about it. In terms of a biographical and bibliographical note, it may be described as follows: Born around the year 1762 in Lithuania; daughter of Stanisław Radziwiłł, the Chamberlain of Lithuania, and Karolina nee Pociej, daughter of the Voivode of Troki. She grew up in Lithuania, where, in 1778, she married August Dominik Przezdziecki, the Staroste of Minsk (died in 1782), and moved to the Zasław property near Minsk. Around the year 1787, she remarried, this time Tadeusz Mostowski, who was the first Steward (podstoli) of Wyszogród and the Castellan of Raciąz, during the Great Four Year Sejm he was the publisher of Gazeta Narodowa i Obca and an active member of a patriotic association. At that time, she lived in Warsaw (in the Mostowski Castle in Bielańska Street) and regularly visited the salon of the Czartoryski family. After the victory of the Targowica Confederation, she accompanied her husband in his emigration journey through Saxony and Switzerland to Paris. After returning to Poland in November 1793 she and her husband lived in Tarchomin near Warsaw. This was where, on the 6th of December, the Russian Ambassador J. J. Sievers put Mostowski, who was suspected of contacting the French revolutionists, in house arrest. However, the detention was repealed in February 1794 thanks to the efforts of his wife and king Stanisław August. After the Kosciuszko Uprising, when her husband had been deported to St. Petersburg, she followed him and persuaded the authorities to improve his imprisonment conditions. She stayed in Warsaw until the spring of 1799, and then she moved to France with her husband. After returning to Poland (1802), the couple, whose relationship had been deteriorating for several years, divorced. After that, the writer moved to Vilnius and then settled in Zasław and focused on literary work. She died before 1833, most likely in Zasław. (Dawni pisarze polscy (Historical Polish Writers) vol. 3, Warsaw 2002). During her lifetime, Mostowska published the following works: A collection of short stories entitled Moje rozrywki (My Entertainments) (vol. 1–3, Vilnius 1806), a novel in two volumes Astolda, księżniczka z krwi Palemona, pierwszego księcia litewskiego, czyli nieszczęśliwe skutki namiętności. Powieść oryginalna z historii litewskiej (Astolda, a Princess from the Family of Palemon, the First Prince of Lithuania, or the Disastrous Effects of Passion. An Original Novel from the History of Lithuania) (vol. 1–2, Vilnius 1807), a collection of short novellas Zabawki w spoczynku (Toys at Rest) (Vilnius 1809). After the writer’s death, her works did not enjoy much interest, although some of her works, such as Strach w Zameczku (The Ghost in the Castle) were transformed into drama and musical performances. The first modern edition of her works (Powieści, listy (Novels and Letters), Łódź 2014) was prepared by Dr Monika Urbańska from the University of Lodz. The present edition contains all the known Gothic novels by Mostowska (without the letters to her publisher Józef Zawadzki and to her family). The texts of the writer are preceded by forewords written by: Dr Monika Urbańska: Anna Mostowska – prekursorka romantyzmu (Anna Mostowska – a Pioneer of Romanticism), Professor Michał Kuziak (Warsaw University), Duch opowieści, opowieść o duchach. Mostowska i jej pisarstwo (The Spirit of a Story, a Ghost Story. Mostowska and her works); Dr hab. Magdalena Patro¬ Kucab (University of Rzeszow), Naiwne taktyki manipulacyjne oraz argumenty erystyczne jako ważne i (nie)oczywiste narzędzia komunikowania się postaci w wybranych powieściach Anny Mostowskiej (Naïve manipulative techniques and eristic arguments as important and (non)obvious tools for communication between the characters in selected novels by Anna Mostowska); and Professor Jarosław Ławski (University of Białystok) who wrote the editorial foreword to the volume. The volume contains the Principles of Publication and Bibliography. It has been published under the grant from the National Programme for the Development of Humanities, whose aim is to publish a 12¬ volume edition of forgotten outstanding works from the “Black Romanticism” movement in the Scientific Series of Publications “Black Romanticism” that has been published since 1994 (until 2022, fifty volumes were published). The texts were edited by Dr Krzysztof Rutkowski, a Slavist and specialist in Russian language from the College of Linguistics of the University of Białystok, and the editor was Professor Jarosław Ławski, who is the supervisor of the series and the Head of the Department of Philological Studies “East – West” Faculty of Philology of the University of Białystok. This edition is addressed to students and scientists, and its aim is to change the interpretational stereotypes that emerged around the works of Anna Mostowska.