Abstrakt: | The book in question consists of 10 articles in which the relations between
the biography and the literary output of Joseph Conrad-Korzeniowski
as well as his Polish origin are discussed. The introduction to this biographical
issues constitutes an in-depth analysis of the interview the author
of Lord Jim gave to Marian Dąbrowski, a representative of the Polish press,
in 1914. In this interview, the English writer formulated a series of important
postulates defining his attitude to the Polish heritage as well as the
Polish modernity at that time. The next text constitutes an attempt to synthesise
the role a several-time stay in Kraków, where Conrad spent a part of
his youthful years and visited it already as a famous English writer, played
in his life. Subsequently, an attempt is made to define the role the noble
heritage of the author deriving from the borderland intelligentsia of a noble
origin played in shaping his attitudes and viewpoints.
The second part of the book is historical-literary and sociological-literary
in nature. It opens with a suggestion to locate Conrad’s writing on a literary
map by means of contrasting the relations of his literary output to such
trends as Romanticism, Realism, as well as Symbolism and Impressionism
so as to show specific “Conradian” features compared to the above-mentioned.
What is presented, on the other hand, constitutes the main types
of the interpretation of Lord Jim dominating mainly in the Polish criticism
of the last century. The very text is supplemented with the presentation
of the Polish reception of Lord Jim between 1904 and 2004. A receptive
nature accompanies a description of the history of Conrad’s dramas
(The Secret Agent and Victory) on the Polish stages in the Interwar period. The receptive issues are also present in the descriptions of the history
of the Polish translation of Shadow Line as Smuga cienia, the expression
of which has become a well-known quotation in the contemporary Polish.
Separate considerations are devoted to a half-century reception of a collection
volume Conrad żywy [Conrad alive] published in the exile in London
in 1957. The very book played an important role in shaping the image
of the writer not only in the exile, but also in Poland. The publication
under discussion closes with the presentation of interests Leszek Prorok
(1919—1984), a writer, displayed in relation with Conrad. Prorok was both
Conrad’s critic and activator of many Conradian issues in Poland, as well
as made a brave attempt to write a biographical novel on Conrad entitled
Smuga blasku [The brightness-line]. |