Eliza Orzeszkowa (6 June 184118 May 1910) was a Polish

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire ...

and a leading writerEliza Orzeszkowa
Britannica, Retrieved 5 June 2016. of the

Positivism Positivism is an empiricist philosophical theory that holds that all genuine knowledge is either true by definition or positive—meaning ''a posteriori'' facts derived by reason and logic from sensory experience.John J. Macionis, Linda M. G ...

movement during foreign Partitions of

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

. In 1905, together with

Henryk Sienkiewicz Henryk Adam Aleksander Pius Sienkiewicz ( , ; 5 May 1846 – 15 November 1916), also known by the pseudonym Litwos (), was a Polish writer, novelist, journalist and Nobel Prize laureate. He is best remembered for his historical novels, espe ...

, she was nominated for the

Nobel Prize in Literature ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , caption = , awarded_for = Outstanding contributions in literature , presenter = Swedish Academy , holder = Annie Ernaux (2022) , location = Stockholm, Sweden , year = 1901 , ...

Biography

She was born in Milkowszczyzna (then in the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War ...

, now in

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

) to a noble Pawłowski family, and died in

Grodno Grodno (russian: Гродно, pl, Grodno; lt, Gardinas) or Hrodna ( be, Гродна ), is a city in western Belarus. The city is located on the Neman River, 300 km (186 mi) from Minsk, about 15 km (9 mi) from the Polish b ...

(now in Belarus) nearby. "Eliza Orzeszkowa" from the Encyclopædia Britannica.
Retrieved 22 September 2011. From 1852 to 1857, she lived in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officiall ...

, where she attended school. There she met another future Polish writer

Maria Konopnicka Maria Konopnicka (; ; 23 May 1842 – 8 October 1910) was a Polish poet, novelist, children's writer, translator, journalist, critic, and activist for women's rights and for Polish independence. She used pseudonyms, including ''Jan Sawa''. She ...

. After returning to Milkowszczyzna, at the age of sixteen, Eliza married Piotr Orzeszko, a Polish

nobleman Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The characteris ...

twice her own age, who was exiled to

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part ...

after the January Uprising of 1863. They were legally separated in 1869.Prof. dr hab. Józef Bachórz
Eliza Orzeszkowa.
''Virtual Library of Polish Literature.'' Retrieved 22 September 2011. She married again in 1894, after a 30-year-long loving relationship with Stanisław Nahorski, who died a few years later.
Brykowisko. Retrieved 22 September 2011. In 1866, she moved to Grodno and turned novelist. Orzeszkowa wrote a series of 30

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itself ...

s and 120 powerful sketches, dramas and

novella A novella is a narrative prose fiction whose length is shorter than most novels, but longer than most short stories. The English word ''novella'' derives from the Italian ''novella'' meaning a short story related to true (or apparently so) fact ...

s, dealing with the social conditions of her occupied country. Her novel ''Eli Makower'' (1875) describes the relations between the

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

and the Polish

nobility Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The character ...

; and ''Meir Ezofowicz'' (1878), the conflict between Jewish orthodoxy and modern liberalism. In 1888 Orzeszkowa wrote two novels about the Niemen River (now part of Belarus): ''Cham'' (The Boor) focused on the life of fishermen; and her most famous novel, '' Nad Niemnem'' (On the Niemen)—often compared to ''

Pan Tadeusz ''Pan Tadeusz'' (full title: ''Mister Thaddeus, or the Last Foray in Lithuania: A Nobility's Tale of the Years 1811–1812, in Twelve Books of Verse'') is an epic poem by the Polish poet, writer, translator and philosopher Adam Mickiewicz. Th ...

''—dealing with the issues of Polish aristocracy against the backdrop of political and social order. Her study on

patriotism Patriotism is the feeling of love, devotion, and sense of attachment to one's country. This attachment can be a combination of many different feelings, language relating to one's own homeland, including ethnic, cultural, political or histor ...

and

cosmopolitanism Cosmopolitanism is the idea that all human beings are members of a single community. Its adherents are known as cosmopolitan or cosmopolite. Cosmopolitanism is both prescriptive and aspirational, believing humans can and should be " world citizen ...

appeared in 1880. A uniform edition of her works was published in

between 1884 and 1888. Much of her output is available also in German translation. Grodno cmentarz farny grob Orzeszkowa 02

In 1905, together with

and

Leo Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich TolstoyTolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; russian: link=no, Лев Николаевич Толстой,In Tolstoy's day, his name was written as in pre-refor ...

, Orzeszkowa was nominated for the

. The prize was awarded to Sienkiewicz. According to official records of the Nobel Prize committee, the idea of dividing the prize was rejected as an act of disparagement, and only the latter ended up as the laureate.The Nobel Prize in Literature: Nominations and Reports 1901–1950
/ref>

Selected works

References

Attribution: *

External links

* * *

{{DEFAULTSORT:Orzeszkowa, Eliza 1842 births 1910 deaths People from Hrodna District People from Grodnensky Uyezd Clan of Korwin 19th-century Polish novelists 20th-century Polish novelists Polish essayists Polish political writers Polish Theosophists Polish women novelists Polish women essayists 19th-century Polish women writers 19th-century Polish writers 20th-century Polish women writers 20th-century Polish writers 19th-century essayists 20th-century essayists Polish positivism