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Eliza Orzeszkowa – 5 Novels
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Five novels
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Mr. Graba
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Mirrors, Echoes, Dialogues

Mirrors, Echoes, Dialogues
Agnieszka Bąbel and Agata Grabowska-Kuniczuk

Mirrors, Echoes, Dialogues
Agnieszka Bąbel and Agata Grabowska-Kuniczuk

Major literary inspirations of Pan Graba[1] – Zachariasiewicz’s Po ślubie and Kraszewski’s Dziwadła 

Orzeszkowa included the postulate of literature that reflects real life problems, also in the psychological and emotional sphere, in a work earlier than Pan Graba, with a meaningful title Początek powieści [The Beginning of the Novel] in which she wrote that

the essential, universal life to which everyone is subject, and in which, in the current social state, the most drama and learning can be found, is not the short journey from a meeting to the altar, but the long journey from the altar to the grave. So today, the description of a man and woman coming together is not yet a novel, it is only the beginning of a novel.[2]

The writer picks up on a theme touched upon by Jan Zachariasiewicz in his novel Po ślubie. Z zapisków kobiety [After the Wedding. From a Woman’s Notes][3] in which the main character’s uncle quips against the fallacies of fictional literature, which only lead a couple in love to the altar,[4] and shows the tragic impact of this popular image on readers:

And so, our entire upbringing was shaped by this literary endeavour. Men and women learn from a young age only that they need to stand on the steps of the altar as best as possible. All our learning, our passions, our relationships, and our lives are directed towards this one goal. This is our great, showpiece role, for which we sacrifice everything. Of the treasures of life, reason, and experience, we take with us nothing more than what an actor needs on stage. A bit of rouge and whitewash, a graceful, characterful appearance, a paper collar, chic glitter, and shoes made of varnished paper. And when the fifth act is over, then we order a bowl of water to be brought and together we wash ourselves of the charms borrowed from art.[5]

This quote indicates that Orzeszkowa’s inspiration with Zachariasiewicz’s text goes deeper than just a general similarity in subject matter. The characteristic metaphor of a theatrical role and make-up (which returns in the character’s despair upon discovering that her husband married her only for the dowry: “I mistook the actor for a real hero and instead of a face, I kissed the rouge and the whitewash…”[6]) will be used and developed by the writer in the dramatic scene of the triumphant protagonist “shedding his physical and moral mask” on his wedding morning. Orzeszkowa must have known Zachariasiewicz’s novel already in its first press edition, as it was published at the same time as “Tygodnik Ilustrowany” published the writer’s literary debut Obrazek z lat głodowych [A Picture from the Famine Years][7] – and it can be assumed that the aspiring author carefully and regularly reviewed the issues of the magazine to which she decided to submit her text, hoping for publication. However, the young writer remains much more pessimistic in the picture of the relationship she paints than her predecessor. The method recommended to the despondent “idealist” by the author of Po ślubie to “reverse misfortune” is not divorce or a convent, but rather winning over her indifferent husband with love, boundless trust, and generosity, followed by forgiving his betrayals and fulfilling his whims, and patiently ignoring his jealousy, even his attempted separation. This requires self-denial and is paid for with tears for the character, but it is supposed to bring reliable results.[8] Meanwhile, a mature man, aware of his actions, and deeply demoralized by selfishness, like the titular character of Pan Graba, cannot be saved either by the boundless love of his first wife (who, after all, adheres to all of Zachariasiewicz’s recommendations in the novel to the very end), or by the friendship offered by his second wife. The protagonist inevitably heads toward disaster, dragging down with him those he most influenced.

In Pan Graba one can see an even clearer reference, and at the same time a specific, consistent polemic, between Orzeszkowa and Józef Ignacy Kraszewski’s novel, Dziwadła, published twenty years earlier. The text by the editor of “Ateneum,” highly regarded by the writer,[9] according to his own words in Słówko autora [A Word from the Author], was written in early 1848. It was then abandoned for a time, and Kraszewski only completed it at the request of the translator and writer Father Ignacy Hołowiński, a contributor to “Tygodnik Petersburski” [Petersburg Weekly]. The first volume and part of the second volume were “supposedly” published in that magazine, while the rights to the entire novel were ceded to August Robert Wolff from Warsaw, who published Dziwadła in 1853.[10] Kraszewski included “Słówko autora” discussing these twists and turns of the text in the second edition of 1856, where he admitted to making changes and alterations, but not concerning the two titular “freaks” – Miss Irena and especially Mr. Hutor-Graba, in whom “they wanted to see a model of the man we need today, and he was chosen by the readers’ instinct as the hero of the novel, although other figures play a more prominent role.”[11] Orzeszkowa must have been similarly fascinated, since years later, in a fragment of the column devoted to the writer, the only remembered character from this work turns out to be Mr. Graba.[12] Maria Żmigrodzka drew attention to the similarity between the surnames of the cynical gambler and the idealized nobleman, stating that “Naming the villain of Orzeszkowa’s novel Graba had the flavour of a polemical allusion on the part of the writer, who believed that ‘novelistic figures bring with them into the world surnames that do not reflect their rights’.”[13] Kraszewski’s anonymous Graba is an enlightened mentor, always ready to offer advice and assistance, an excellent farmer, a protector of peasants, and a believer in stoic philosophy and the ideal of self-restraint. In creating her protagonist, the author of Pan Graba seems to have constructed this character by reversing the physical and, above all, character traits of her predecessor’s character 180 degrees. The figure of a robust, middle-aged man (around fifty), with a soldierly bearing, and surprisingly fresh features in a Slavic “purely national” type, characterized by gentleness, reason, and kindness, with “blue” eyes and a thick moustache,[14] is matched by the figure of Kalikst, whose age at the beginning of the story is difficult to determine,[15] his beauty overly refined, and his riotous lifestyle leading to premature exhaustion and, over the course of the novel, transforming him into “the spectre of a once-beautiful man” (Pan Graba, part 3, chapter 12). Instead of a “Spartan” living in the Polesie countryside, for whom the only acceptable luxuries are a beautiful garden, a library, and a valuable collection of works of art, we see an Epicurean for whom life outside the city is impossible, cynically proclaiming his life motto, “use and fun.” The ardent opponent of cards[16] is represented by a gambler, the moralizer and creator by a sewer of corruption, a rake and destroyer of domestic peace, and the caring father by the eternal prodigal son (it is worth noting here that the Graba couple in Orzeszkowa’s novel remain childless, and the character’s despised grave is mourned only by his once-abandoned mother). This principle of à rebours presentation also applies to certain plot situations – such as the story of a husband’s unrequited love for his wife, their separation, or a failed duel. Kraszewski’s Graba emerges victorious from all these adventures as a moral triumphant, while for Orzeszkowa’s character they become an opportunity for further, ever deeper embarrassment. As a sign of affection, the character of Dziwadła adds the maiden name of his wife, the beautiful and spoiled Teresa, the last heiress of the Hutor family, to his own surname. He attempts to educate and raise his wife, who is a dozen years younger than him, but is defeated by her wilfulness and heartless selfishness. Abandoned by his wife when he lies gravely ill, despite their separation, he continues to cherish her unwavering love and watches over her fate from afar, keeping their marital bedroom intact for years like a sanctuary.[17] Kalikst Graba tries to convince Kamilla to his philosophy of life and to persuade her to become his partner – for this purpose he punishes his wife’s resistance and her attempts to obtain a divorce not only by resorting to physical violence,[18] but above all, taking away subsequent memorabilia from her beloved parents (part 3, chapters 1 and 3). Challenged to a duel for his unpopular views on holding public office, Hutor-Graba manages to avoid it by publicly demonstrating his composure, unrivalled mastery of marksmanship, and enormous ethical advantage over his reckless opponent (to whom he calmly says, “Tell me now, would I have the conscience to agree to fight you?”[19]), thereby earning the reluctant, yet sincere, respect of those around him. His refusal to defend Mr. Graba’s honour with a gun, caught cheating at cards, is tantamount to exposing his physical cowardice, hidden beneath his social graces and “unparalleled impudence,” and consequently marks the beginning of this chevalier d’industrie’s inevitable downfall in the eyes of the elegant world of the city of M. (part 3, chapter 6). Hutor-Graba preaches an evangelical social program based on love for one’s neighbour, rooted in combating vice with dedicated assistance to the wicked, that is, the unfortunate.[20] This program would be ineffective against his literary successor – the doom of the ruthless egoist Kalikst Graba is already foretold by his predecessor’s harsh words: “Where selfishness exists, there is death.” Numerous gestures and words of the monolithic model of patriarchal virtues, created by Kraszewski,[21] are precisely reversed in Orzeszkowa’s text, like a reflection in a dark, distorting mirror.

Both Mr. Grabas are separated by an entire generation[22] in literary and biographical terms – if Orzeszkowa’s Kalikst Graba is to be considered a direct descendant of Mr. Hutor-Graba from Kraszewski’s once very popular Polesie novel, he is a spiritually stunted and degenerate son who wasted his life chances and undoubted abilities due to bad upbringing and monstrous egoism. This literary affinity illustrates the real threat of degeneration for an entire social class and further highlights the warning put by the author into the mouth of one of the characters: “Our fathers were quick to drink and indulge in merrymaking, but they used them in moderation, as a respite from brave deeds performed for the glory of God and the benefit of the country. Today’s youth, especially the wealthy ones, waste their entire lives in vain revelries, oblivious to the fact that they also bring ruin to the country.”[23]

Strona: 1234567

Przypisy

  1. The novel also features characteristic titles of the then popular literature, primarily French, in a significant function (as a source of stereotypical associations with mysterious and dark literary heroes) (The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, the father, The Mysteries of Paris and The Wandering Jew by Eugene Sue, as well as scandalous novels by Dumas, the son and Gautier), but also German (Rinaldo Rinaldini by Vulpius), the shallow and demoralizing, purely entertaining readings of which are contrasted with the reading choices of the educated Ryta Słabecka – Schoedler’s The Book of Nature, Vogt’s lectures or Dickens’s works.
  2. E. Orzeszkowa, Początek powieści (printed in Zbiór oryginalnych powiastek i gawęd [A Collection of Original Short Stories and Tales], special supplement to the “Tygodnik Ilustrowany” [Illustrated Weekly] 1866, pp. 1–48). In her first novels, the writer returned to the drama of an unhappy marriage many times and in different ways (apart from Pan Graba it is Ostatnia miłość, Na prowincji, Cnotliwi).
  3. J. Zachariasiewicz, Po ślubie. Z zapisków kobiety, “Tygodnik Ilustrowany” 1866, no. 347–365. The novel was published between May 19 and September 22. Anna Martuszewska in a sketch Początki powieści Elizy Orzeszkowej draws attention to this similarity (eadem, op. cit., pp. 9–10), emphasizing at the same time the observation of Maria Żmigrodzka, who was the first to notice in Orzeszkowa’s Początek powieści a “reply” to Zachariasiewicz’s novel (eadem, Orzeszkowa. Młodość pozytywizmu [Orzeszkowa. The Youth of Positivism], Warszawa 1965, pp. 329–330).
  4. J. Zachariasiewicz, Po ślubie, “Tygodnik Ilustrowany” 1866, no. 347, p. 233.
  5. Ibidem, “Tygodnik Ilustrowany” 1866, no. 351, p. 284.
  6. Ibidem, “Tygodnik Ilustrowany” 1866, no. 356, p. 36.
  7. E. Orzeszko, Obrazek z lat głodowych, “Tygodnik Ilustrowany” 1866, no. 352, pp. 291–293 and no. 353, pp. 303–304. Orzeszkowa’s text was published in the issues of June 23 and 30.
  8. The uncle-reasoner in Zachariasiewicz’s novel also offers the following morals to desperate women: “You poor souls, instead of your dreamed-of ideal, you often find in your virginal embrace a corpse that the already corrupt world refused to accept. However, do not run away in disappointment, but save what can be saved, warm his clotted heart with the heat of your own soul, let him begin to live again in your embrace. Treating such a patient is difficult and almost impossible, but remember that the doctor must not abandon him and kill him” (J. Zachariasiewicz, Po ślubie, “Tygodnik Ilustrowany” 1866, no. 358, p. 59). A peculiar echo, and at the same time a bitter riposte to these unrealistic demands, is the line spoken by Orzeszkowa’s character, Tozio Słabecki, to his shocked sister: “Oh, yes,” Tozio replied, “you young virgins have no idea about us. You imagine your brothers and future husbands as heroes, or at least as hardy, immaculate people. Meanwhile, you are often disappointed, and fear, terror, and pain overwhelm you, right? But that’s good, because at least when you have sons, you will be able to act so that they don’t resemble your brothers and husbands” (Pan Graba, part 2, chapter 4).
  9. This can be evidenced by the enthusiastic opinion expressed by one of the characters in Na prowincji (a novel written in the first half of 1869, simultaneously with Pan Graba): “Kordecki, for example, or Dziwadła are miracles, sir.”
  10. J.I. Kraszewski, Słówko autora [A Word from the Author], [in:] idem, Dziwadła. Powieść współczesna [Freaks. A Contemporary Novel], Kraków 1964, p. 5.
  11. Ibidem, p. 6. Kraszewski’s novel is much more optimistic in its tone – the driving force behind the transformations are the positive characters (“the eccentric” Hutor-Graba, the beautiful Irena Z.), whose beneficial influence leads young Jerzy Sumin to spiritual rebirth and the reward of reciprocated love. The plot of the much more sombre Pan Graba revolves around the intrigues of the demonic protagonist, and the actions of the positive characters aim to mitigate their effects and save his victims – which is not always possible.
  12. In the series of columns Listy znad Niemna [Letters from the Niemen River], dating back to 1874–1875, Orzeszkowa wrote: “Who has not bowed with involuntary reverence, even if he did not feel the livelier beating of his heart, while gazing at the serious, active, courageous, reformist figure of Pan Graba of Dziwadła? The thoughts and teachings contained in these and many other figures and images, created by the pen of a great thinker and artist, penetrated the farthest depths of the social womb like sharp, piercing arrows, thrown with a brave hand, imbued with new concepts, new feelings” (E. Orzeszkowa, Znad Niemna list III [Letter from the Niemen River III], [in:] eadem, Publicystyka społeczna [Social Journalism], vol. 3: Felietony, listy otwarte, recenzje, omówienia, sprawozdania, korespondencje, varia [Columns, Open Letters, Reviews, Discussions, Reports, Correspondence, Miscellaneous], prepared by G. Borkowska, edited by I. Wiśniewska, Warszawa 2020, p. 67). Grażyna Borkowska and Iwona Wiśniewska (ibidem) write that the title character of Pan Graba is rather the antithesis of the character created by Kraszewski.
  13. M. Żmigrodzka, op. cit., pp. 361–362. The writer’s decision is all the more provocative in light of contemporary statements about Dziwadła, which the researcher cites, for example, Marian Gawalewicz’s words about Kraszewski’s character from 1880, which she quotes: “And we will then call all good citizens, honourable gentlemen, tireless workers and dedicated people whom fate allows us to meet on the road of life by his name. And it will be no small honour for the one about whom we say: This is the second Graba from Dziwadła” (M. Gawalewicz, Trzecie dziesięciolecie (1850–1855) [The Third Decade (1850–1855)], [in:] Książka jubileuszowa dla uczczenia pięćdziesięcioletniej działalności literackiej J. Kraszewskiego [An Anniversary Book to Celebrate the Fifty Years of J. Kraszewski’s Literary Work], Warszawa 1880, p. 45; quoted from Orzeszkowa…, p. 361). A few years later, a reviewer of Pan Graba wrote in a commentary on this novel in the Tanie Zbiorowe Wydanie Powieści Elizy Orzeszkowej [Cheap Collected Edition Eliza Orzeszkowa’s Novels]: “The French have a certain characteristic expression [chevalier d’industrie – A. B. and A. G.-K.], denoting a category of people living on nothing, owing everything to cunning combined with impudence. […] And here we called such people the same way – today we would have a different, more blunt expression – and this is: Pan Graba!” (E. Zorjan [E. Sedlaczek], Powieści Elizy Orzeszkowej (Seria pierwsza, tomów 12. Nakład S. Lewentala) [Novels by Eliza Orzeszkowa (First series, 12 volumes. Published by S. Lewental)], “Kłosy” [Ears of Corn] 1885, no. 1032–1033).
  14. J.I. Kraszewski, op. cit., pp. 81–82.
  15. “He had youthful hair and lips, the complexion of an old man’s face, his eyes alternately between those of a young man and those of an old man.” (Pan Graba, part 1, chapter 1); Graba confesses to his newlywed wife with irony: “I am not old, because I am 36, and if in the state in which you see me now I look older, it is the fault of… various sufferings and ailments of life…” (ibidem, part 2, chapter 1).
  16. “Cards are the plaything of barbaric or childish peoples only: they kill time, teach greed, stupefy, develop the most pernicious passions, and incite one to the most harmful idleness. I do not understand the game. […] The game demoralizes, so that many who sat down to play honestly a few hours later stood up a cheater. Can one, knowing how it debases, willingly throw oneself into this fire? No! No! There is never any need to play” (J.I. Kraszewski, op. cit., p. 193).
  17. “[…] this prematurely grey-haired man, in love like a twenty-year-old boy to the point of madness, tears, and frenzy” keeps intact the room he once shared with his wife: “He shuts himself up in it, poor man, waters the flowers, stares at the dust-covered furniture and dies of insatiable feeling. And she? – she caresses herself, she plays and mentions his name with disgust, with contempt, with fear” (ibidem, p. 207).
  18. “Woman!” Graba shouted, “don’t toy with me, or – ”
    He grabbed her hand and squeezed it so hard that her fingers ran red. Physical pain knitted Kamilla’s brows slightly; however, she made no attempt to free her hand from her husband’s iron grip and, looking at him with continued calm, asked:
    “Or what?”
    “Lower those daring eyes of yours that you look at me with so defiantly, or I’ll crush your fingers!” Graba shouted through clenched teeth.
    Kamilla didn’t lower her gaze, smiled, and replied, “You’ve already crushed my heart, so what’s a hand worth?” (Pan Graba, part 2, chapter 7).
  19. J.I. Kraszewski, op. cit., p. 173.
  20. Kraszewski’s protagonist even proclaims: “The lower a man has fallen, the more we should try to lift him up; for he cannot reach it on his own.” He also emphasizes the issue of social responsibility: “Every human sin falls on humanity, which allowed him to fall. […] Instead of punishment, another obligation lies with society: to remove the dangerous member so that it does not spoil the rest of the body, and to heal it, that is, to improve it” (ibidem, p. 114). Orzeszkowa also continues this organicist theme, but presents it much more pessimistically (also as an image of the effects of social ostracism, which also affects the innocent, like Kamilla, the “gambler’s wife”).
  21. The ostentatious impeccability of this character is maliciously commented on by another character of the novel, a young fop who exchanges letters with the protagonist Jerzy Sumin, who is undergoing a spiritual transformation – a faithful disciple of the Polesian “Spartan”: “How sad you are now (a polite expression), moralizing and in love with your unbearable Graba, the eternal preacher whom I cannot stand” (ibidem, p. 197).
  22. The authors of both novels portray a rather similar milieu of provincial landowners, with a gallery of characters: golden youth-revellers, former military men, spongers, and bored ladies conversing in French. However, these depictions differ significantly in their setting and the atmosphere of the era. In Kraszewski’s novel, the action takes place primarily on various rural estates, while the town meeting to elect a marshal is an occasional event, encouraging merrymaking, squabbles, and revelry. In Orzeszkowa’s novel, the sphere of political and civic life is no longer accessible, and the young landowners lead a fundamentally demoralizing existence in the provincial town, devoted to the constant pursuit of entertainment. The countryside is remembered by the characters as a paradise lost, an idyllic childhood backdrop–or a place where dreams of a better, active and fulfilling future may come true.
  23. A quote from the first letter of old Mr. Wieńczyński to his daughter Celina (Pan Graba, part 1, chapter 9).