Antoni Malczewski (3 June 1793 – 2 May 1826) was a Polish
romantic
Romantic may refer to:
Genres and eras
* The Romantic era, an artistic, literary, musical and intellectual movement of the 18th and 19th centuries
** Romantic music, of that era
** Romantic poetry, of that era
** Romanticism in science, of that e ...
poet, known for his only work, "a
narrative poem
Narrative poetry is a form of poetry that tells a story, often using the voices of both a narrator and characters; the entire story is usually written in metered verse. Narrative poems do not need rhyme. The poems that make up this genre may be ...
of dire
pessimism", ''Maria'' (1825).
At the times, prominent and scandalizing was his autodestructive romance with a married woman, Zofia Rucińska, who had a mental illness.
Biography
Malczewski was born to a wealthy family in either
Volhynia or
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 official ...
, and attended school in
Krzemieniec (modern-day Kremenets, Ukraine), but did not graduate.
He joined the army of the short-lived
Duchy of Warsaw during the
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...
in 1811,
and remained in the army of
Congress Poland
Congress Poland, Congress Kingdom of Poland, or Russian Poland, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland, was a polity created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna as a semi-autonomous Polish state, a successor to Napoleon's Duchy of Warsaw. It ...
under
Emperor Alexander Emperor Alexander may refer to:
* Alexander the Great (326-323 BCE), a Macedonian king who conquered the known world
* Alexander Severus (208–235), a Roman emperor (222-235) of the Severan dynasty
* Domitius Alexander, Roman usurper who declared ...
from 1815.
He was wounded in the foot in a duel in 1816 and so had to leave the army.
After leaving the army, he spent several years traveling through western Europe, staying some time in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...
, climbing
Mont Blanc in 1818, and spending a good portion of his inherited fortune.
He returned to his estate in Volhynia in 1821, where he began an ill-fated affair with a married woman and began writing.
He moved to Warsaw in 1824, where he published the poetic novel ''Maria'' at his own expense in 1825, and died in poverty the next year in unclear circumstances.
Work
Malczewski's fame rests almost solely upon that of ''Maria'', published near the end of his life and popularized in the decade following his death (an English translation appeared in 1835). Considered a masterpiece of
Polish Romanticism, it tells the tale of a young noble woman who marries above her station, and so incurs the wrath of her husband's family, who plot revenge. It is generally held to be most influenced by
Lord Byron
George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and Peerage of the United Kingdom, peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and h ...
, whom Malczewski had met in
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...
during his travels around western Europe, though it is considerably more gloomy and
Gothic
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
**Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
than Byron's work. Malczewski is sometimes considered part of the "
Ukrainian school" in Polish poetry, though others consider his work to stand uniquely separate. ''Maria'' was also influential on later Polish poets, especially
Adam Mickiewicz, and on writer
Joseph Conrad.
Genealogy
See also
*
Aiguille du Midi
References
External links
''Maria''with commentary (in Polish),
WolneLektury.pl
{{DEFAULTSORT:Malczewski, Antoni
1793 births
1826 deaths
Polish poets
Polish mountain climbers
Romantic poets
19th-century Polish writers
19th-century poets
Polish people of German descent