Warsaw-new york. Eliza Orzeszkowa’s dwa bieguny and Edith Wharton’s the age of innocence

Abstract

The article proposes a comparative reading of two feminine novels: Dwa bieguny by Eliza Orzeszkowa, written in 1893, and The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton from 1920. In both novels one can see not only the surprising similarities at the level of plot, but also a strong presence of the author. Article points to the convergence in the biographies of the two novelists, and compares the situation of women writers in Poland and America at the turn of the nineteenth century