- Antoni Malczewski
Infobox Writer
name = Antoni Malczewski
imagesize =
caption =
birthdate = birth date|1793|6|3|mf=y
birthplace =Volhynia orWarsaw
deathdate = death date and age|1826|5|2|1793|6|3|mf=y
deathplace =Warsaw
occupation =poet
nationality = Polish
period =
subject =
movement =Romanticism ,Pessimism
notableworks =
influences =Horace ,Theatre of ancient Greece ,Johann Wolfgang Goethe ,Walter Scott ,George Gordon Byron ,Jan Kochanowski
influenced =Adam Mickiewicz ,Joseph Conrad ,Juliusz Słowacki ,Adam Asnyk ,Leopold Staff ,Antoni Lange ,Michał Elwiro Andriolli ,Henryk Melcer-Szczawiński ,Jan Lechoń
Antoni Malczewski (
3 June 1793 inVolhynia orWarsaw –2 May 1826 inWarsaw ) was a heavy influential Polish romantic poet, known for his only work: "anarrative poem of direpessimism " – "Maria" (1825).At the times, prominent and scandalizing was his romance with married woman, Zofia Rucińska, who suffered from mental illness.
Biography
Malczewski was born to a wealthy family in either
Volhynia orWarsaw , and attended school inKrzemieniec (modern-day Kremenets, Ukraine), but didn't graduate.cite encyclopedia | title = Malczewski, Antoni | encyclopedia = Encyclopedia of the Romantic Era, 1760-1850 | editor = Christopher John Murray | volume = 2 | publisher = Taylor & Francis | year = 2004 | id = ISBN 1579584225 | pages = pp. 709–710] He joined the army of the short-livedDuchy of Warsaw during theNapoleonic Wars in 1811, and remained in the army ofCongress Poland under Emperor Alexander from 1815.de icon cite encyclopedia | title = Malczewski | encyclopedia =Meyers Konversations-Lexikon | edition = 4th edition | year = 1890 | | volume = 11 | pages = pp. 145–146 | url = http://www.retrobibliothek.de/retrobib/seite.html?id=110842] 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 , climbingMont 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 byLord Byron , whom Malczewski had met inVenice during his travels around western Europe, though it is considerably more gloomy and Gothic 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, especiallyAdam Mickiewicz andJoseph Conrad .Genealogy
Ancestors of Antoni MalczewskiReferences
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