Kamienie i kwiaty. O Kazimierze Iłłakowiczównie

Abstract

The article presents the biographical and literary connections with Vilnius of the out standing Polish poet Kazimiera Iłłakowiczówna (1889–1983). Kazimiera Iłłakowiczówna inherited her Vilnius roots from both her mother, Barbara Iłłakowicz (1856?–1893), and her father, Klemens Sabba Zan (1852–1889), the youngest son of Tomasz Zan. The poet’s date of birth, 6 August 1889, indicates that she was born after her father’s death (her father died on 9 April 1889). Left alone with two small illegitimate children, her mother lived in an attic, earning a living by teaching foreign languages (she knew French, German, Russian, Latin and Greek), music and singing. She died of tuberculosis on the Śniegi farm near Vilnius. Kazimiera, a four-year-old orphan, separated from her older sister Basia, had to leave Vilnius. After the vicissitudes of a failed adoption by her mother’s brother, Jakub Iłłakowicz, she became the adopted daughter of Zofia Buynowa, née Plater-Zyberk, with whom she lived in Polish Livonia (the historical region of modern-day Latvia) in Baltyn, and later in Stanisławów near Krasław. The poetess referred to Vilnius many times in her literary works, including satirical ones. She collaborated with Vilnius magazines (Słowo and Kurier Wileński). The Adam Mickiewicz Literary Award of the City of Vilnius, presented in March 1930, played a decisive role in shaping her attitude towards Vilnius. Under the influence of this spectacular honour bestowed upon her by the city authorities and community, the traumas of her early childhood receded into the background.