Michał Sędziwój (dramaty)

Abstract

Another volume published in the Scientific Publishing Series “Dark Romanticism” is a publication issued thanks to a grant from the National Programme for the Development of Humanities for 2012–2017, entitled “Continuation of the critical edition of the outstanding, yet forgotten works of nineteenth-century Polish romantic literature.” The project is implemented by researchers from the Department of Philological Research “East – West”, University of Białystok. The edition is lead by Prof. Halina Krukowska and Prof. Jarosław Ławski. This time, we are bringing back a writer who has been completely forgotten, Wacław Szymanowski (1821–1886). Szymanowski was in the 2nd half of the 19th century one of the most popular writers, journalists, publicists, columnists and newspaper publishers. Throughout his life he was associated with Warsaw, where he was born in a family of Polish Frankists. He began his literary career in 1841, when he joined the group Cyganeria Warszawska (Warsaw Bohemia). He was one of the most active Bohemians, although he is not included in this group. He left behind fascinating memories about this group of young writers rebelling against the conventions of bourgeois life (Literaci warszawscy [Warsaw Writers] from 1855). Since 1851 he began his brilliant career as a journalist, topped with successful editing in the role of editor-in-chief of “Kurier Warszawski” (“Warsaw Courier”) in 1868-1886. Szymanowski's style of writing was excellent and trenchant, as a columnist, critic, polemicist, storyteller. But his ambition was to to be remembered as a playwright. He was known as the author of translations of French plays (including de Musset's, F. Ponsard's, C. Delavigne's, V. Hugo's, H. Murger's, E. About's, Moliere's). Szymanowski's original dramas were often staged and vividly commented by critics. The most important ones are: Ostatnie chwile Kopernika (The Last Moments of Copernicus; 1855), Salomon. Dramat z XVI wieku (Solomon. A Drama from the 16th Century; 1856), Michał Sędziwój (1859), Dzieje serca. Komedia. (The History of Heart. A Comedy; 1860), Posąg (Statue; 1880). In this volume we are presenting the most important texts written by Szymanowski, including the drama about a Polish alchemist, famous in Europe – Michał Sędziwój. The topic of this drama allows one to count it as representative to Romanticism: alchemy, discovering nature, science. Yet, Szymanowski breaks all the Romantic conventions and he turns the topic of alchemy, so full of mystery, into a bourgeois drama, finished with a sudden happy ending. The writer has achieved great popularity with this and other texts. He fitted into the needs of the new audience: the bourgeois. He did not want Romantic mysteries, horror, irony, experimentation with language and literary genres, but he wanted art that would bring entertainment, emotion, and that would be understandable. Michał Sędziwój and other dramas written by Szymanowski show not only the twilight of the convention of “Dark Romanticism”, but above all, the breaking of these conventions and the birth of popular art, close to realism. Szymanowski, a successful writer from the turn of two epochs, was quickly forgotten as a playwright, and his dramatic texts had never been reissued. The volume has been prepared by: Dr. Grzegorz Czerwiński, a researcher of oriental topics in culture (the biographical part); Dr. Anna Janicka from the Department of Positivist Literature and Young Poland (the interpretative part). The volume has been edited by Prof. J. Ławski, who has also written the afterword. This is the first edition of Szymanowski's dramas since the release of collected writings (Poezje i dramaty [Poems and Dramas], Vol. 1-5, Warsaw 1884) by the author himself. Today Szymanowski is valued primarily as a novelist, a master of sketches portraying customs and literary life, as well as profiles of writers of his time. (Przełożyła: Małgorzata Zielińska)