Kajetan Koźmian spoza kanonu: studia i szkice historycznoliterackie

Abstract

'Kajetan Koźmian spoza kanonu. Studia i szkice historycznoliterackie' to monografia poświęcona poecie uznawanemu za przywódcę warszawskich klasyków, wrogo usposobionych wobec zmian, jakie zaczęły następować w polskiej kulturze w latach 20. XIX wieku (początki romantyzmu). Badacz analizuje źródła tzw. "wielotwarzowości" Koźmiana, skupiając się na manipulacjach, którym jego dzieła oraz literacki wizerunek bywały poddawane od momentu śmierci poety w 1856 roku. Poszczególne rozdziały książki zawierają studia i szkice, które koncentrują się wokół "niekanonicznych", najmniej rozpoznanych tekstów i aspektów działalności Koźmiana. Czytelnik znajdzie tutaj zatem analizy poświęcone przemilczanemu przez historię literatury poematowi bohaterskiemu 'Stefan Czarniecki' (1858), jak również 'Ziemiaństwu polskiemu' (1839), bogatej korespondencji czy obszernym pamiętnikom. Ponadto na kartach książki pojawiają się refleksje o stosunku Koźmiana do kobiet, do starości i chorób, czy też do makabryczno-frenetycznej estetyki, a to dlatego, że ten nieprzejednany antyromantyk, co może zaskakiwać, przejawiał wobec niej zadziwiającą predylekcję. Kajetan Koźmian, na co wskazuje autor monografii, to jedna z najbarwniejszych postaci polskiej kultury pierwszej połowy XIX wieku, najczęściej i najchętniej przedstawiana jako antypatyczny starzec, dogmatyk i polemista, jednakże - na szczęście dla potencjalnego czytelnika - prawdziwe jego oblicze skrywają intrygujące tajemnice, które dopiero czekają na pełne rozpoznanie.

Studies and readings contained in the book are dedicated to Kajetan Koźmian (1771–1856), a representative of the so-called “post-Stanislavian Classicism” (also known as “Warsaw Classicism”), that is, a literary movement in the Polish culture of the late Enlightenment. Koźmian – most well known as the author of poems Polish gentry and Stefan Czarniecki, or the three-volume Memoirs - is considered to be one of the main opponents of young romantic poets, Adam Mickiewicz included. History of literature textbooks, anthologies of 19th-century works of literary criticism provide selected quotes from Koźmian, illustrating his open dislike for non-classicistic poetic texts. In the context of “Warsaw elite” literary disputes from 20s of 19th century, he is presented as a leader of the “classicist camp”. The author of the subject book does not contest the theory on anti-romantic character of Koźmian’s works. Moreover, similarly to his previous book titled Intricacies of anti-romanticism. Kajetan Koźmian and the Polish romantics (Cracow: Collegium Columbinum, 2015), he claims that it was the dislike for the changes occurring in European culture in the late 18th and the first half of 19th century that motivated the elderly poet to undertake new lit erary attempts in his “hermitage” in Piotrowice, Lublin region, his family manor where he took shelter after the November Uprising (1831). In Piotrowice, his most monumental, vastest works have been created: his rich literary correspondence with Franciszek Wężyk, Franciszek Morawski, Wincenty Krasiński, Zygmunt Krasiński, and his son, Andrzej Edward Koźmian. It is also the place where Stefan Czarniecki poem has been created (published in Poznań in 1858, after the death of the author) and three-volume memoirs encompassing the period from Koźmian’s childhood to his very late years. The task the author of the Kajetan Koźmian outside of cano, burden himself with is to look at the creator of Polish gentry in a non-stereotypical, non-clichéd way, that is in a manner other than in previous textbooks or encyclopaedic compilations. It show this – as he was described in the historical literature – “a monumental elder”, as a youngster ready to sacrifice everything in the name of love, as a poet ready to create “dark, gothic, Ossianic” works, and – above all – as a person searching for his creative “myself”, his own individuality. The reading opening the collection is the “Ukrainian taste” in “Polish gentry”. It focuses on a selected “episode” of the Koźmian’s flagship work, his poem dedicated to “Polish peasants”. We can find here an original concept of the history of Bohdan Chmielnicki in whom did Koźmian found the God’s “Sword of Vengeance” against polish nobility that unjustly treated the Ukrainian gentry. The poet described it in a manner resembling the gothic novels, dark, Ossianic literature. Another chapter titled About religion in “Stefan Czerniecki”, discusses the issue of ambitions the Koźmian wanted to fulfil by the end of his life, creating a monumental heroic poem. The author tried to answer the question whether that poetic work, published after the death of its creator, can be called an epos in the classic definition of the word. The chapter also con tains an analysis of the methods of combining Christian religion (in particular: a Christian hero) with tradition based on Greek and Roman mythology. Chapter III (A woman in Koźmian’s works) contains observations concerning the attitude of the author of Polish gentry towards women. Selected fragments of his Memoirs, correspondence and Stefan Czarniecki are reflected upon. It is worth noting that the poet spent his last years surrounded by basically only women, that had a clear impact on his late works. Chapter IV, named “As long as the memory serves, live can be experienced” attempts to unravel the mystery of the amazing increase in creative activity that characterised Koźmian after his arrival to Piotrowice in 1832. On the basis of selected reference literature, and – above all – sources (memoirs, letters), the scholar analysed the reasons that made Koźmian “grab a pen” and hold it until his death. This behaviour was significantly different to how he did things in his younger years, when his individual works needed even dozens of years before they were made public. In the chapter V named “Wilted leaves on a mouldering tree”, the scholar focuses on the nature of Kajetan Koźmian’s old age. While interpreting selected works of the poet, primarily Momoirs and correspondence with Franciszek Wężyk and Franciszek Morawski, the themes of illness, senility, dying and loneliness, leitmotifs of last letters of the poet, are analysed. Chapter VI (Koźmian’s life after death) is a study analysing selected reference literature dedicated to the creative profile and biography of the author of Polish gentry. Opinions of various writers, historians, literary critics (including those of Stanisław Koźmian, the son of Andrzej Edwar Koźmian and the grandson of the poet) that included different attempts at profiling Kajetan Koźmian, often straying far from the facts. The scholar tries to find answers to the questions of what was the purpose of those manipulative attempts and what were their consequences for the role and significance of the poet in the history of Polish literature. In the entire book there are hints suggesting that Kajetan Koźmian is a person that has not been revealed yet, or rather: not revealed entirely, a person worth reading, worth studying. Especially that Kajetan Koźmian, as a publicist, politician, statesman and classicistic poet, played an extremely important role in the history of Polish culture of 1st half of 19th century.