Jews and Judaism in Polish Romantic literature

All major Polish Romantic poets wrote about Jews. The thesis developed in this study is that their interest in the Jewish theme went far beyond the fascination, common in the period, with the exotic, the mysterious, the outcast, or, as it pertained to the Jews--the dark aspect of consciousness. Unlike their Western contemporaries, the Polish Romantics, mainly Mickiewicz, Slowacki and Norwid, saw a strong affinity between themselves and the Jews, between the predicament of the Polish and the Jewish nations, and of their own mission as poets with that of the Jewish prophets. They sought, therefore, ways to reconcile Judaism with Christianity, as well as Poles with Jews. Their works which are informed by this effort are analyzed in Chapters 1 and 2, together with the opposing views of Krasinski and of literary critics. The Introduction presents an overview of Romantic attitudes toward Jews, and the closing chapter deals with the impact of these attitudes on Polish mainstream literature until the outbreak of World War Two, with some references in both to works written after the war. The literary works analyzed here are chosen selectively. They are works intended and perceived as fiction, and they are limited to writers who have continued to be recognized, by readers and critics, as of lasting importance in Polish culture. This choice, however arbitrary, is dictated by the focus on the misreading of books dealing with the Jewish theme, and that can be traced only through books belonging to the cultural canon. The conclusion, inherent in all the chapters, is on the unique nature and intensity of the Polish Romantics\u27 interest in Jews, with whose suffering and consciousness they symbolically identified, deploring, in most cases, the perils of prejudice. I argue that these powerfully expressed attitudes have had an inspiring, and sometimes inhibiting, effect on modern Polish literature--at its best always indebted to the Romantic tradition. And, lastly, that it is facile and presumptuous to consider the fictional representations of these attitudes as reflecting or affecting the views of either Polish society at large or of the majority of readers

The Sarmatian Review, Vol. 30, No. 1

Contents: Sarmatian Review Data; Marek Troszyński, "On the shoulders of Giants: Herbert and Miłosz"; Anne Barbeau Gardiner, "Casimir Britannicus" (review); Joanna Rostropowicz Clark, "A Memoir of My Life" (review); Anna Nowicka-Struska, "Anioł w poezji baroku" (review); Chad Heltzel, "The Coming Spring"; Leo Yankevich, “The Birdman of Gdańsk” (poem); Christopher Zakrzewski (translator), "Adam Mickiewicz’s Pan Tadeusz, Book One (The Manor)"; BOOKS and Movies Received; About the Authors; Thank You Not

The Sarmatian Review, Vol. 27, No. 3

Contents "Our Take" (Guest Editorial); "SR Data"; "Rituals at the Limits of Literature: A New Reading of Witold Gombrowicz’s Cosmos", by George Gasyna; "BOOKS and Periodicals Received"; "The Clash of Moral Nations: Cultural Politics in Piłsudski’s Poland", by Gregor Thum (review); "Between Dawn and the Wind", by Janet Tucker (review); "Holy Week", by Joanna Rostropowicz Clark (review); "An Update and Analysis of the Polish Economy", by Richard J. Hunter, Jr. and Leo V. Ryan, CSV; "No Declaration"(a poem) by James Reid; "Announcements and Notes"; "About the Authors"; "Thank You Note

The Sarmatian Review, Vol. 28, No. 3

Contents: "SR Data"; Adam Mickiewicz, "Pan Tadeusz, Book 2", trans. by Christopher Zakrzewski; "Wisława Szymborska’s 'The Silence of Plants,'" by Mary Ann Furno; Wisława Szymborska, “Hania,” trans. by Agnieszka Kreczmar; "An Interim Report on the Polish Economy", by Leo V. Ryan, CSV and Richard J. Hunter, Jr; "BOOKS"; "A History of Poland" (review), by Curtis G. Murphy; "Królestwo potrzebuje kata & Lidia z Kamerunu" (review), by Ewa Stańczyk; "I, City" (review), by Alfred Thomas; "Ptasznik z Wilna. O Józefie Mackiewiczu" (review), by Joanna Rostropowicz Clark; "About the Authors

The Sarmatian Review, Vol., 36, No. 2

In this issue: Thank You Note -- Sarmatian Review Data – LETTER -- Leonard Kress, The Wonder and Woe of Translating -- Joanna Rostropowicz Clark, City of Memory: A Bilingual Anthology of Contemporary Polish Poetry (review) -- Felicia Hardison Londré, Loose Screws: Nine New Plays from Poland (review) -- Sally Boss, Echoes of Tattered Tongues: Memory Unfolded (review) -- Harry Louis Roddy, Rising Hope: Warsaw Rising Trilogy, vol. 1 (review) -- Piotr Wilczek, Orphan Girl: A transaction, or an Account of the Entire Life of an Orphan Girl by way of Plaintful Threnodies in the Year 1685. The Aesop Episode (review) -- Agnieszka Gutthy, Literatura polska obu Ameryk: Studia i szkice–Seria pierwsza (review) – MORE BOOKS -- Eliza Orzeszkowa, Marta (excerpts), trans. by Anna Gąsienica-Byrcyn and Stephanie Kraft -- Jacek Koronacki, The West and the Rest: A Brief Account -- About the Authors -- Announcements and Note