Five Easy Pieces? What Eliza Orzeszkowa’s early works presuppose
It is interesting to note that Bob Rafelson’s film features a set of presuppositions typologically similar to those in nineteenth-century novels. Lurking in the background are social tensions and transformations, this time, it is the social revolution of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Simple virtues are criticized implicitly and rejected by the central protagonist of the film. Even art and talent cannot compensate for the sense of the futility of life (the attitude towards art displayed in the film is close to Orzeszkowa’s view). It is not my intention to search for further analogies (beyond primitive misogyny) between Orzeszkowa’s works and a cult US-American film that today has little resonance, at least as far as I can tell. This would be a rather futile exercise leading nowhere. However, I would point out that it is presuppositions that form the component of art that enables us, under certain conditions, to speak about its universal significance or its ability to transcend language and epochal boundaries. When all else fails, they at least continue to function like clockwork.
Przekład na język angielski: Paul Vickers
[1] Five easy pieces is the title of a 1970 film by Bob Rafelson. The central character cannot find pleasure in life even though he is a talented piano player. Playing and interpreting great musical works seems easier than the art of life. Orzeszkowa’s early works seem like fairly transparent and simple pieces, yet they do not lack surprises that demand explanation.
[2] Such qualifications appeared during her lifetime already in reviews by Piotr Chmielowski, Waleria Marrené-Morzkowska and Józefa Sawicka (Ostoja), while over time it became one of the key pillars of Henryk Markiewicz’s classic essays discussing “the dialectics of Polish positivism.”
[3] Here most notably the studies by Anna Martuszewska (Pozycja narratora w powieściach tendencyjnych Elizy Orzeszkowej, Gdańsk–Wrocław 1970; Poetyka polskiej powieści dojrzałego realizmu (1876–1895), Wrocław 1977); indirectly related are the studies by Józef Bachórz, who rarely wrote about Orzeszkowa (with a notable exception being the essay Pozytywistka na rozdrożu, [in:] Przełom antypozytywistyczny w polskiej świadomości kulturowej końca XIX wieku, ed. T. Bujnicki, J. Maciejewski, Wrocław 1986), since, as Bachórz noted jokingly, he did not like this woman, although he did apply knowledge of her works in other outstanding pieces of research; and the book by Janusz Barczyński (Narracja i tendencja. O powieściach tendencyjnych Elizy Orzeszkowej, Wrocław 1976).
[4] An impressive exception is Krzysztof Kłosiński’s Mimesis w chłopskich powieściach Orzeszkowej, Katowice 1990.
[5] The role of nature and botanical specimens in Orzeszkowa’s works has been discussed by Bolesław Hryniewiecki (Przyroda w twórczości Elizy Orzeszkowej, AEO, sygn. 794), Alina Kowalczykowa (Czy natura ma duszę, [in:] Eliza Orzeszkowa. Pamięć kultury. Studia i głosy, ed. J. Ławski, S. Musijenko, Białystok–Grodno 2019), Tadeusz Budrewicz (Ptaki Orzeszkowej, [in:] Sekrety Orzeszkowej, ed. G. Borkowska, M. Rudkowska, I. Wiśniewska, Warszawa 2012), Barbara Noworolska (Eliza Orzeszkowa. Trwanie, pamięć, historia, Białystok 2005), Małgorzata Chwedczuk (Drzewa Elizy Orzeszkowej, Toruń 2007); her herbaria have been studied not only by literary scholars but also by researchers working in the history of science, biology and pharmaceutics: Barbara Kuźnicka (Zielniki i albumy florystyczne Elizy Orzeszkowej, “Kwartalnik Historii Nauki i Techniki” 2006, no. 2), Ewa Kamińska (Ziołoznawstwo i ziołolecznictwo w publikacjach etnograficznych Elizy Orzeszkowej, [in:] Historia leków naturalnych, ed. B. Kuźnicka, vol. 1: Źródła do dziejów etnofarmacji polskiej, Warszawa 1986), Anna Maria Kielak (Zielnik Elizy Orzeszkowej. Nieznany zabytek botaniczny przechowywany w zbiorach Poznańskiego Towarzystwa Przyjaciół Nauk, Poznań 2004); see also Aneta Narolska, “Puszcza starożytna” Elizy Orzeszkowej, “Wiek XIX. Rocznik Towarzystwa Literackiego im. Adama Mickiewicza” 2013.
The themes of the nation, uprisings and history have been taken up by those emphasizing the epic nature of Nad Niemnem, including Jan Ludwik Popławski (Dwa światy, “Głos” 1888, no. 43), Aureli Drogoszewski (Eliza Orzeszkowa, Warszawa–Kraków 1912), Stefan Kołaczkowski (Epika Orzeszkowej, “Tygodnik Ilustrowany” 1937, no. 13), Julian Krzyżanowski (Epos Orzeszkowej, [in:] idem, W kręgu wielkich realistów, Kraków 1962), Janina Kulczycka-Saloni (Bohaterscy wychowankowie pieśni (Literatura piękna a powstanie styczniowe), “Kwartalnik Historyczny” 1963, no. 4), Maria Żmigrodzka (Dwie powstańcze legendy Orzeszkowej, “Pamiętnik Literacki” 1963, iss. 4), Jan Detko (Dziedzictwo powstania styczniowego w twórczości Elizy Orzeszkowej, [Warszawa 1964]).
[6] See U. Phillips, The “Jewish Question” in the Novels and Short Stories of Eliza Orzeszkowa, “East European Jewish Affairs” 1995, vol. 25, no. 2; eadem, Glory to the Vanquished or Tribute to Lived Experience: Eliza Orzeszkowa’s Recreation of 1863 in her Cycle “Gloria victis” (1910), [in:] Mapping Experience in Polish and Russian Women’s Writing, ed. M. Rytkӧnen et al., Newcastle upon Tyne 2010; eadem, “Thesis Novel” or Pastoral Elegy: Key Tensions in Eliza Orzeszkowa’s “Nad Niemnem”, [in:] Another Canon. The Polish Nineteenth-Century Novel in World Context, ed. G. Borkowska, L. Wiśniewska, Wien–Zürich 2020; B. Shallcross, Between Desire and Inaction: On Domestic Interiority in Orzeszkowa’s “Nad Niemnem”, [in:] Another Canon. The Polish Nineteenth-Century Novel in World Context, ed. G. Borkowska, L. Wiśniewska, Wien–Zürich 2020; G. Borkowska, Cudzoziemki. Studia o polskiej prozie kobiecej, Warszawa 1996 (English translation: Alienated Women. A Study on Polish Women’s Fiction 1845–1918, trans. U. Phillips, Budapest–New York 2001; Russian translation: Чужеземkи, перев. И.Е. Адельгейм, Н.В. Романовский, Москва 2007); eadem, Rwąca rzeka, [Wprowadzenie in:] E. Orzeszkowa, Publicystyka społeczna, introduction and ed. G. Borkowska, ed. Iwona Wiśniewska, vol. 2: Rozprawy, studia, artykuły, Warszawa 2021; eadem, The Feminism of Eliza Orzeszkowa, [in:] Gender and Sexuality in Ethnical Context: Ten Essays on Polish Prose, ed. K.A. Grimstad, U. Phillips, Slavica Bergensia 5, Bergen 2005; K. Szczuka, Nuda buduaru, “Res Publica Nowa” 1998, no. 5.
[7] See Danuta Danek’s subtle biographical analysis. Danek, Melancholia i poznanie. “Autobiografie” Elizy Orzeszkowej, introduction and ed. D. Danek, photos K. Hejke, Warszawa 2014, and the monograph by Aneta Mazur, Pod znakiem Saturna. Topika melancholii w późnej twórczości Elizy Orzeszkowej, Opole 2010.
[8] An important contribution on religious myths in the works of Orzeszkowa is: Jerzy Cieślikowski, (Nad Niemnem Elizy Orzeszkowej: rozważania nad semiotyka mitów religijnych, “Pamiętnik Literacki” 1969, iss. 2); the fairy-tale-like nature of the world in Nad Niemnen was noted, often critically, earlier by Aleksander Świętochowski (“Prawda” 1888, no. 22). The ethical and thus social sensibilities of the writer were discussed by Stanisław Brzozowski (Eliza Orzeszkowa, “Przegląd Społeczny” 1906, no. 12–13). More recent insights are available in the edited volume Problematyka religijna w literaturze pozytywizmu i Młodej Polski. Świadectwa poszukiwań, ed. S. Fita, Lublin 1993.
[9] M. Żmigrodzka, Orzeszkowa. Młodość pozytywizmu, Warszawa 1965.
[10] Michał Głowiński describes the narrative truth similarly, while adopting a different approach, in his discussion of the role of the reader in accepting the authenticity of the world represented; ultimately, Głowiński accepted that truth is a position adopted by a statement towards a statement, thus reducing the significance of extratextual knowledge in shaping readers’ consciousness. M. Głowiński, Powieść i prawda, [in:] idem, Gry powieściowe. Szkice z teorii i historii form narracyjnych, Warszawa 1973.
[11] E. Kuźma, Presupozycja w odbiorze i interpretacji dzieła literackiego, “Nowa Krytyka” 1997, no. 8.
[12] J. Culler, Presupposition and Intertextuality, “Comparative Literature” 1976, vol. 91, no. 6.
[13] U. Eco, Lector in fabula. Współdziałanie w interpretacji tekstów narracyjnych, 1979, trans. P. Salwa, Warszawa 1994. The work has not appeared in full in English, but was partly reformulated and published as part of the essay collection The Role of the Reader. Umberto Eco, Lector in fabula: Pragmatic Strategy in a Metanarrative Text, [in:] idem, The Role of the Reader, Bloomington 1979.
[14] O. Ducrot, Presupozycje, warunki użycia czy elementy treści?, trans. J. Hayewska, “Pamiętnik Literacki” 1975, iss. 1, p. 281.
[15] E. Orzeszkowa, Znad Niemna, “Niwa” 1874/1875: Znad Niemna. I – 1874 (vol. 6, no. 1–2, pp. 24–34, 89–94), Znad Niemna. List II – ibid. (no. 8–10, pp. 494–501, 558–565, 625–633), Znad Niemna. List III – 1875 (vol. 7, no. 3–4, pp. 174–181, 241–248). See G. Borkowska, Czytanie mapy: Litwa na przełomie lat 50. i 60. XIX stulecia, [in:] Literatura i kultura lat 60. XIX wieku między polityką a prywatnością. Dyslokacje, ed. U. Kowalczuk, D.W. Makuch, D.M. Osiński, Warszawa 2019.
[16] J.Ch.L. Simonde de Sismondi, Nowe zasady ekonomii politycznej, czyli o bogactwie i jego stosunku do ludności, vol. 1–2, foreword. E. Lipiński, trans. W. Giełżyński, Warszawa 1955; quote from vol. 1, p. 58. J.-C.-L. Simonide de Sismondi, New Principles of Political Economy: Of Wealth in Its Relation to Population, First Book, chapter 7, trans. and ed. R. Hyse, London 1991, p. 53.
[17] The initials PG, followed by the part and chapter number, refer to: E. Orzeszkowa, Dzieła zebrane, ed. I. Wiśniewska, P. Bordzoł, A.P. Lesiakowski, vol. 4: Pan Graba, vol. 1–2, edited, introduction, editorial note and comments A. Bąbel, A. Grabowska-Kuniczuk, ed. A.P. Lesiakowski, Warszawa 2026; the initial C – refers to the novel Cnotliwi, edited, introduction, editorial note and comments D.M. Osiński, ed. A.P. Lesiakowski (Dzieła zebrane, vol. 5, Warszawa 2024); the initials NP refer to the novel Na prowincji, edited, introduction, editorial note and comments A. Mazur, ed. A.P. Lesiakowski (Dzieła zebrane, vol. 3, Warszawa 2025); the initials WK refer to the novel W klatce, edited, introduction, editorial note and comments A. Kuniczuk, ed. A.P. Lesiakowski (Dzieła zebrane, vol. 2, Warszawa 2025); the initials OM refer to the novel Ostatnia miłość, edited, introduction, editorial note and comments M. Kreft, ed. A.P. Lesiakowski (Dzieła zebrane, vol. 1, Warszawa 2026).
[18] The close relationship with his mother is confirmed in the published correspondence of J.Ch.L. Simonde de Sismondi, Léttres écrites à sa mѐre pendent Cent-Jours, “Revue Historique” 1877–1878, vol. 5–6.
[19] Foreword by E. Lipiński to: J.Ch.L. Simonde de Sismondi, Nowe zasady ekonomii politycznej, czyli o bogactwie i jego stosunku do ludności, pp. V–X.
[20] J. Jedlicki, Jakiej cywilizacji Polacy potrzebują. Studia z dziejów idei i wyobraźni XIX wieku, second, corrected edition, Warszawa 2002, p. 134. This work appeared in an abridged and amended English translation: J. Jedlicki, A Suburb of Europe: Nineteenth-century Polish Approaches to Western Civilization, Budapest 1999. It does not mention Gliszczyński.
[21] Dwa systemata ekonomii politycznej, to jest teoria fizjokratów i Adama Smitha, as compared by Mr Simondi, and translated into Polish by A[ntoni] Gliszczyński, “Pamiętnik Warszawski, czyli Dziennik Nauk i Umiejętności” 1817, vol. 7–8.
[22] T.S., Emancypacja kobiety w stosunku do socjalizmu i ekonomii politycznej, “Tygodnik Mód i Powieści” 1874, no. 4–9.
[23] J. Krzyżanowski, Nota edytorska, [in:] E. Orzeszkowa, Pisma zebrane, ed. J. Krzyżanowski, vol. 4: Cnotliwi, Warszawa 1951, s. 256.
[24] Perhaps not of central significance to this introduction but nevertheless interesting is the question of whose translation Orzeszkowa used. It seems that two translations were available: the eighteenth-century version by Jan Baudouin and the nineteenth-century interpretation by Klemens Podwysocki. Neither appears to have been published, other than perhaps in fragments. They provided the basis for theatre productions, with the Krakow Theatre using Podwysocki’s version while in spring 1873 it staged Tartuffe. Establishing how Orzeszkowa acquired the comedy, or rather drama, would require further research. See J. Łukaszewicz, Dramaty Franciszka Zabłockiego jako przekłady i adaptacje, Wrocław 2006.
[25] Paweł Tomczok makes an interesting contribution to the discussions on mechanisms of exchange (or their suspension in the case of certain works by Orzeszkowa). Paweł Tomczok, Literacki kapitalizm. Obrazy abstrakcji ekonomicznych w literaturze polskiej drugiej połowy XIX wieku, Katowice 2018.
[26] L. Irigaray, Women on the Market, [in:] idem, The Sex which is not One, trans. C. Porter with C. Burke, Ithaca–New York 1985, pp. 170–191. Originally published as Le marches des femmes, [in:] Sessualita e politica, Milan 1978.
[27] M.M. Bakhtin, Form of Time and of the Chronotope in the Novel, [in:] idem, The Dialogic Imagination: Four Essays, ed. M. Holquist, trans. C. Emerson and M. Holquist, Austin 1981 p. 125.
[28] Ibidem, p. 86.
[29] A. Czabanowska-Wróbel, Baśń jako światopogląd: baśń i baśniowość w twórczości Leśmiana, “Pamiętnik Literacki” 1988, iss. 4, pp. 47–48.
[30] TS, the author of the essay, cites a fragment of Heinrich von Sybel’s study Über die Emancipation der Frauen (Bonn 1870); it has not been possible to trace the original quote. It could be that it was a paraphrase of the original or evidence of the inventiveness of the anonymous translator of the essay into Polish. ‘In a good marriage, the husband strengthens the wife’s intelligence by applying his common sense while the wife, by way of the righteousness of her instinct, becomes the husband’s conscience. Through his rationality and logic the man becomes the master of the world and thus of the world, while the woman uses her instinctive knowledge of people to direct her master and lord – and God forbid we should ever depart from this influence.’ It was precisely this idealized model of marriage that TS called marital bliss. (T.S., Emancypacja kobiety w stosunku do socjalizmu i ekonomii politycznej, “Tygodnik Mód i Powieści” 1874, no. 6).
[31] J. Jedlicki, Klejnot i bariery społeczne. Przeobrażenia szlachectwa polskiego w schyłkowym okresie feudalizmu, Warszawa 1968, p. 449.
[32] I would encourage comparing the motto of W klatce and Jameson’s argument with this statement by Orzeszkowa: “I not believe that the love of a man for a woman should be the be all and end all of human existence, suggesting that submitting oneself to it or even being broken by it is something that can only happen to a weak person or to someone who allowed love to become take over everything in their life: deed, ideals, fame. In a cage, there is no choice of food; if you are hungry, you take what you can. And if this nourishment is poisonous then you live with it a while and then die… And that is how one of the tragicomedies of human existence on this earth ends” (WK, motto).
[33] F. Jameson, A Businessman in Love, [in:] The Novel, vol. 2: Forms and Themes, ed. F. Moretti, Princton 2006, p 443.
[34] In a polemic with an article by Antoni Nowosielski (real name: Antoni Marcinkowski), who offered a highly negative opinion of US-American society as one supposedly founded by troublemakers while also criticizing the women’s education system, Orzeszkowa offered an unequivocally positive and even rather courageous opinion on the US. E. Orzeszkowa, O kwestii kobiecej. Z powodu artykułu Antoniego Nowosielskiego w nrach 126 i 127 “Gazety Polskiej”, “Gazeta Polska” 1870, no. 147–148,.
[35] M.M. Drozdowski, Rewolucja amerykańska w polskiej myśli historycznej i społecznej, “Kwartalnik Historyczny” 1975, no, 1. See also Z. Libiszowska, Opinia polska wobec rewolucji amerykańskiej w XVIII wieku, Łódź 1962; J. Łojek, [review of] Zofia Libiszowska, Opinia polska wobec rewolucji amerykańskiej w XVIII w., “Rocznik Historii Czasopiśmiennictwa Polskiego” 1963, no. 1.
[36] Orzeszkowa used the term ‘simple virtues’ in the title of an article that itself was very much Franklinian in spirit as she described the post-feudal neglect of basic duties, such as paying off debts (E. Orzeszkowa, Cnoty proste, “Przegląd Tygodniowy” 1874, no. 41–44).
[37] B. Dopart, Tworzenie bogactwa a więź narodowa w świetle literatury i filozofii doby romantyzmu, [in:] idem, Polski romantyzm i wiek XIX. Zarysy, rekonesanse, Kraków 2013.
[38] M. Stankiewicz-Kopeć, Miasto i cywilizacja w kontekście sporów modernizacyjnych w piśmiennictwie polskim lat 1800–1830. Studia, Kraków 2018, p. 411. I draw not only this quote but a great deal of other knowledge from this study.
[39] The models Hoffmannowa recommended for young women emphasized the virtuousness of domestic thrift, while in her posthumously pubished diaries, (Pamiętniki ([in:] Pisma pośmiertne Klementyny z Tańskich Hoffmanowej, vol. 1–3, Berlin 1849), she provided insights into her ‘financial activities’ that were broad and even attracted professional commentary as she demonstrated exception enterprise, balancing the books and proving financially shrewd as she systematically assessed the profitability of the initiatives she was involved in; see: M. Stankiewicz-Kopeć, Miasto i cywilizacja w kontekście sporów modernizacyjnych w piśmiennictwie polskim lat 1800–1830…, chapter VI.
[40] Z. Sinko, Początki polskiej recepcji twórczości Jamesa Fenimore’a Coopera, “Pamiętnik Literacki” 1990, iss. 2.
