Kraszewski i nowożytność. Studia

Abstract

The present book is part of the planned two-volume publication, which is the outcome of the scholarly project commemorating the bicentennial of Józef Ignacy Kraszewski’s birthday. Kraszewski (1812–1887), who wrote two hundred and forty-two novels and whose collected oeuvre comprises about six hundred volumes, is one of the most prolific writers ever. In Poland he is considered the founder of the modern novel, all possible types of which he practised (the novel of manners, the historical novel, the Künstlerroman etc.). The commemorative international conference „Józef Ignacy Kraszewski (1812– 1887): the Writer, the Thinker, the Authority,” 14-16 November 2012, organized by the Research Unit in Interdisciplinary and Comparative Studies „East-West” (later renamed into the Research Unit in Philological Studies „East-West”), took place in three different venues: the Branicki Palace in Białystok (the first day), the National Museum in Warsaw (the second day), and the Kraszewski Museum in Romanów (the third day). The conference sessions were the central event of the Year of J. I. Kraszewski declared by the Polish Parliament in 2012. Among the co-organizers there were: the National Centre of Culture in Warsaw, the Institute of Literary Studies at the Polish Academy of Sciences, the Jan Długosz Academy in Częstochowa, Książnica Podlaska Library in Białystok, and the Adam Mickiewicz Literary Society in Warsaw. The Faculty of Philology at the University of Białystok was the conference main organizer. The conference committee included: Professor Jarosław Ławski (The Research Unit in Philological Studies „East-West”, Professor Agnieszka Czajkowska (the Jan Długosz Academy in Częstochowa), Paweł Kuciński, PhD, (the Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw), Professor Grażyna Borkowska (the Adam Mickiewicz Literary Society in Warsaw). The honorary conference committee was headed by Professor Józef Bachórz (the University of Gdańsk). Among the conference participants there were scholars from Poland, Lithuania, Ukraine, Belarus, Switzerland, Italy, Austria and Bulgaria. About one hundred and ten papers were delivered during three days of the conference – most of them are published in two volumes. The first volume of conference proceedings on Kraszewski’s works was published under the title Józef Ignacy Kraszewski and the Nineteenth Century. Studies. Volume II, Józef Ignacy Kraszewski and Modernity. Studies, brings a set of articles grouped into five sections: 1. „I Am Travelling” gathers the articles discussing Kraszewski’s travels to Italy, Odessa, Lithuania and Ukraine. 2. „On Books, Reading and Other Things” focuses on the writer’s attitude to books, book illustrations and photographs (daguerreotypes). 3. „Bolesławita’s View of the World” recalls Kraszewski’s pen-name („Bolesławita”) and shows the writer as a perceptive observer of nineteenth-century civilization, science and politics. 4. „A Writer of History, A Historical Writer” includes interpretations of the most famous (and undeservedly forgotten) historical novels of Kraszewski. 5. „People of the Epoch View Each Other” presents Kraszewski’s relationships with notable figures of the nineteenth century (Eliza Orzeszkowa, Cyprian Norwid, Henryk Sienkiewicz) and interpretations of his works by contemporary scholars from Belarus and Ukraine. Both volumes have been edited by Professor Jarosław Ławski (the Research Unit in Philological Studies „East – West”); Krzysztof Czajkowski, PhD, (the Faculty of Philology and History at the Jan Długosz Academy in Częstochowa); Anna Janicka, PhD, (the Research Unit in Polish Nineteenth-Century Literature at the University of Białystok); and Łukasz Zabielski (Książnica Podlaska Library in Białystok). The publication has been supported by Książnica Podlaska Library headed by Jan Leończuk.