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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2017
Despite the political and economic insignificance of Poland in the international arena during the century and more of her political eclipse, a spiritual struggle went on within the Polish nation which was all the more intense for lack of practical and material avenues of expression. In the sharp focal point of Stefan Żeromski's novels, short-stories, and sociological pamphlets there is concentrated the pain, the despair, the sacrifice, and the triumphant exultation of the whole period during which Poland struggled up out of bondage into a “brave new world” of freedom.
From the point of view of content, therefore, Stefan Żeromski is without question one of the most interesting and important Polish writers of the last fifty years. His works identify themselves so closely with the struggle of Poland for freedom and for social justice within that freedom that they are a veritable mirror of the historical events, the ideological currents, and the intellectual and emotional attitudes swaying the whole generation of Poles who lived to see their disembodied nation take on the flesh of statehood.
1 Sulkowski, p. 136. In tins study all citations from Żeromski's works are taken, unless otherwise mentioned, from the memorial edition in 32 volumes of his collected works (Warsaw: J. Mortkowicz, 1927).
2 Polish emigrés in France after the insurrection of 1830. The most important groups were organized by 1832 in the Democratic Society (Towarzystwo Demokratyczne). The social and political tenets of this organization were compactly expressed in its famous manifesto of December, 1836 (of which more will be said in later pages of this study). For a summary and discussion of this document, see B. Limanowski, Historia demokracji polskiej (War szawa: 1922) II, pp. 100 ff. One section of the Democratic Society, i.e., the Gromada Grudziąż led by Stanislaw Worcell, swung strongly toward agrarian communism. During his stay in France from 1909 to 1913 Żeromski carefully studied the career and writings of Worcell.
3 Cf. Snobbery and Progress, p. 66.
4 Cf. The conclusion of Żeromski's short story “The Tomb” (Tales,) (1895).
5 Father Piotr Sciegienny was arrested and hanged in 1844 for having organized a peasant insurrectionary conspiracy in the Holy Cross region. Even on the gallows he scorned the commutation of his sentence to exile in Siberia and demanded to be hanged. See Żeromski's tribute to him in Puszcza Jodłowa (1926), p. 12.
6 Wierna Rzeka (1912) published on the SOth anniversary of the insurrection is based on events which actually occurred at the home of Żeromski's aunt during the insurrection. Cf. Stanisław Piołun-Noyszewsli, Stefan Żeromski, Dom, Dzieciñstwo i Młodść (Warsawa: 1928), Appendix.
7 Stanisław Piołun-Novszewski, op. cit., p. 73.
8 Cf. Biernacki, M., Stefan Żeromski ijego Ideologja (Lublin: 1926)Google Scholar. This pamphlet contains a reprint of the official Russian file concerning Żeromski.
9 Cf. Żeromski's letter to Sokolnicki in M. Sokolnicki, Czternaście Lat (Warsaw: 1936), p. 370.
10 ibid.
11 Cf. H. Mortkowicz, “Zielony Kajet Jaśniacha,” Wiadomości Literackie, X (1933, Nr. 10). This is an unpublished notebook of Żeromski's described with copious excerpts by Mlle Mortkowicz.
12 Hulewicz, Jan, “Żrodła Ideologji Społeczno-Politycznej Stefana Żeromskiego,” pamietnik Literacki, XXVII (1930), pp. 451–472 Google Scholar.
13 Bolesław Chrobry (992–1025) extended his sway over all Polish lands and established Poland as a military power.
14 Kazimierz Wielki (1333–1370) codified the laws of Poland and founded the University of Kraków, i.e., established a Polish cultural tradition.
15 Stefan Batory (1576–1586) by his execution of the rebellious magnate Samuel Zborowski in 1584 was well on his way to break the anarchical habits of the Polish nobility.
16 The Conversion of Judas, p. 308.
17 Sułkowski, p. 176.
18 “preface to ‘Nullo and his Companions’ ” by K. Firlej-Bielañska, 1923, Elegie, p. 318. Elegie is the collection of Zeromski's scattered works (Warszawa: 1928) edited by W. Borowy.
19 Ibid., p. 315.
20 Beginning of the World of Labor, p. 15.
21 Ibid., p. 41.
22 Snobbery and Progress, p. 191. Włodzimierz Konieczny, a young sculptor, was a friend of Żeromski's. He lost his life fighting with the Polish legions in Volhynia. Cf. Snobbery and Progress, pp. 92–94, also Of Adam Żeromski, a Reminiscence, p. 43.
23 Organization of the Professional Intelligentsia, p. 89. For convenience, references to Beginning of the World of Labor and Organization of the Professional Intelligentsia will be abbreviated to BWL and OPI. The pagination is that of the volume Whips of Sand in which BWL and OPI are included.
24 In OPI, p. 56, Żeromski quotes Benedetto Croce on this human instinct. “È vano Combattere l'ideale aristocratico, perchè l'aristocrazia è la fiamma che tend all'alto, à fiesta fiamma e I'anima stessa dell'uomo.” The corresponding passage in Croce is Cultura e vita morale. Intermezzi polemici, (Ban, 1914), p. 196.
25 The spectre of promiscuous bloodshed in a social revolution tormented Żeromski from 1919 to his death in 1925. His last book Can Spring Be Far Behind (Przedwiośnie, 1925) was his cry of warning to his countrymen.
26 Cf. the careful and compact analysis by Hulewicz, Jan: “Źródła Ideologic Społeczno-politycznej Stefana Żeromskiego,” Pamiȩtnik Literacki. 1930, pp. 451–472 Google Scholar.
27 Henryk Kamieñski (pseud. “Filaret Prawdowski”): Katechizm demokratyczny czyli o powiadanie slowa ludowego, (Paris: 184S). Cf. J. Hulewicz, loc. cit., p. 452.
28 A. Mickiewicz, Dziela (Warszawa, Biblioteka Arcydzieł Literatury, 1929), XVII/XVIII, p. 291. The passage is from Mickiewicz's lectures on Slavonic literature, fourth year, lecture 3, Jan. 9, 1844.
29 In Poland from the sixteenth century. Cf. Conversion of Judas, pp. 150–153.
30 J. Hulewicz, loc. cit., p. 471.
31 Cf. Jampolski, Włodzimierz, Stefan Żeromski, Duchowy Wódz Pokolenia (Kraków: 1930)Google Scholar.
32 Cf. Errors (1923), p. 17.