An idea about Polish Literature

and i've got an idea ;)

- Middle Ages:
ex. Bogurodzica: a hymn in praise of the Virgin Mary,

- Renaissance:
ex. Jan Kochanowski,

- Baroque:
ex. Jan Chryzostom Pasek, Jan Andrzej Morsztyn,

- Enlightenment:
ex. Henryk Sienkiewicz, Władysław Reymont,

- Romanticism:
ex. Adam Mickiewicz, Juliusz Słowacki, Cyprian Kamil Norwid,

- Positivism

- Young Poland

- Interbellum

- World War II

- People's Poland
(Socialist realism)

- Modern

carry on :) and have fun, of course :)

---


i meant a conversation about the authors... there is not much in Wikipedia anyway ;P

- Positivism:
ex. Bolesław Prus,

- Young Poland:
ex. Kazimierz Przerwa Tetmajer, Stanisław Przybyszewski,

- Interbellum:
ex. Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński,

- World War II
ex. Zofia Nałkowska,

.....

World War II
ex. Tadeuz Borowski
People's Poland
ex. Czeslow Milosz

Ha! Thank you so much for posting this. Recently I was searching google for "Polish authors" but the search result was so massive that I couldn't clearly see what I wanted, that is a short list of representative authors, and also a rough structure of thee volution of Polish literature through the ages.

Now I know where to start. I'll start with Mickiewicz, as I always had a preference for romanticism when learning the literature of my own native language (French).

On my latest trip to Kraków, I also bought this book, thinking it could be interesting, but I need to have a more advanced knowledge of the Polish style and vocabulary before I'll start reading it : culture.pl/pl/culture/artykuly/dz_janion_niesamowita_slowianszczyzna

-Modern:
ex: Wisława Szymborska
:)

- Middle Ages:
Bulla gnieznienska
Ksiega henrykowska – contains the first sentence written in Polish Day, ut ia pobrusa, a ti poziwai
Kazania swiętokrzyskie
Wincenty Kadlubek
Jan Dlugosz

- Renaissance:
Mikolaj Rey

- World War II
K.K. Baczynski

check "forbidden poets" such as Edward Stachura, Andrzej Bursa and Rafał Wojaczek (XX century)

better Mikołaj Rej

Romanticism:
Aleksander Fredro

Positivism:
Eliza Orzeszkowa

Positivism/Young Poland:
Stefan Żeromski

Sienkiewicz and Reymont in Enlightenment??? Noooo....

Henryk Sienkiewicz - positivism
Władysław Stanisław Reymont - Positivism / Young Poland

i guess hehe

The author himself used Mikolay Rey:

yes, he is from family Rey, but today we accept his name mostly as Rej

I accept both.

you suppose that M. Rej shoud be grateful now? lol

me too, i just have written the second version

I dunno what he would do or not, but I know he wrote about himself "I, Mikolay Rey Z nagłowicz". If the "father of Polish literature" calls himself Rey than who am I to tell him otherwise?

The form Rej was introduced about 350 years after Rey's death.

heh okay, I just wanted to point out that you sounded a bit ... ummm like you will eventually accept both forms and Rej should be happy that you do haha sorry :D

Is it any problem for you? lol

Why? I mentioned the name. You posted a correction. Was it because you had a problem?

lol yeah, on PF everyone changes my name all the time and even my boy pronounced it incorrect at first hahah umm and i'm still alived XD wonder what they will say in years after my death

Wyspianska, you know, it's Polish hehe


I don't think writing second version is like solving some problems.

well, that all very nice but...
...

Witold Gombrowicz

Merged thread:
Polish Literature

Hello,

What book or BOOKS are suggested for academic study of Polish LITERATURE? (especially Literary History)

PS. Please suggest authentic books. Thanks.

I'd suggest Wesele, (Wyspianksi) because it looks at a lot of the ideas prevalent in Young Poland, such as the idea of "blending' the "pure peasant" and the intellectual.

Try some XX century staff, in my opinion a lot more entertaining that previous literature.
Try for example "A Minor Apocalypse" by Konwicki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tadeusz_Konwicki

I remember I enjoyed it. Early XX century is also very nice, Bruno Schulz was a star back then: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruno_Schulz "The Cinnamon Shops" is a pure magic.

Anyway, there is a lot of it, I just liked those two above.. and those are not huge bricks like XIX novels... but "The Doll" by Prus was actually quite good. Pre WWII XX century poetry is also very nice - try Tuwim, Kasprowicz or Leśmian: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le%C5%9Bmian

(but I suppose Leśmian is veeery hard to translate to the edge of impossibility probably).

There is of course loads of others with a supposedly main stars of Polish Romanticism like Mickiewicz or Słowacki but personally I almost disdain them (maybe because in school I were told so many times that they are great ;)) which reminds me of Ferdurke by Gombrowicz (great book) "Why admirable if not admirable?" or something along those lines regarding Romanticism ;) Hm.. but from Romanticism I somehow enjoyed "The Un-Divine Comedy" by Zygmunt Krasiński. Hm.. another great guy is Mrozek, try his "Tango" and of course Stanislaw Lem. I marked him because he was really great and kind of world star in SF (but his books are lot more than just SF). You can try something wide know as "Solaris" for example.

Well it is like a stream of consciousness, I think I better stop right now... To sum things up there is also a couple of Polish Nobel prize winners in literature but somehow they are not my favourites.

PS. In my opinion studing history of literature would be much more fun if studied in reverse order from the XX century back to begining. Modern literature is just much more interesting (at least in my view) but teachers tends to spend so much time on previous centuries that there is not enough time for new books.

Try Simon Schama "Landscape and Memory". The first section is about the role of Polish literature in the patriotic dream, and the use of nature as an imagery connected with independence.

Tomek Tryzna.

Leopold Tyrmand and "Dziennik 1954". Highly entertaining.

errata: I meant "Ferdydurke": en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdydurke

Why is it that every discussion about Polish literature has to be about dead people?