The article reviews the book  Polish Literature From 1864 to 1918: Realism and Young Poland: An Anthology,  edited and translated by Michael J. Mikoṡ

Lanoux, Andrea

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Connecticut CollegeDigital Commons @ Connecticut CollegeSlavic Studies Faculty Publications Slavic Studies1-1-2008(Review) Polish Literature from 1864 to 1918:Realism and Young PolandAndrea LanouxConnecticut College, alano@conncoll.eduFollow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.conncoll.edu/slavicfacpubPart of the Slavic Languages and Societies CommonsThis Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the Slavic Studies at Digital Commons @ Connecticut College. It has been accepted forinclusion in Slavic Studies Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Connecticut College. For more information,please contact bpancier@conncoll.edu.The views expressed in this paper are solely those of the author.Recommended CitationLanoux, Andrea. "Polish Literature from 1864 to 1918: Realism and Young Poland." The Slavic And East European Journal 4 (2008):623-4. Web.Reviews 623ing as a submarine commander on the Baltic front, takes up with another woman, and Danya'smother kicks him out and tells him never to return.Perhaps the ending parallels the irrevocable loss that the country had experienced, except thatthe plot did not prepare us for this "surprise" ending. Many fathers die on the front, why notDanya's father? This morally despicable figure jars with the rest of the story, which portraysDanya's family as an organic whole. The reader has the sense that the author needed a way outand reverted to this unsatisfying--because unmotivated in the story-ending.In fact, the prose in the stories is quite good and the portraiture and characterization are en-tirely professional. What doesn't work so well is the plotting. Endings seem the most difficult. Infact, it is no easy trick to make convincing endings. After all, a denouement should emerge nat-urally. If not, one feels the heavy hand of the author-deus ex machina. That feeling occurs toooften in this collection. The weakest piece is "The Love ofAkira Watanabe," because the readerknows from the start that the ESL teacher is a lesbian and onlyAkira, the Japanese student in lovewith her, is the last to know. This knowledge cleaves too closely to the reader's expectations.The two other stories in the collection, "Summer in Yalta7 and "Carp for the Gefilte Fish,"also deal with the subject of love. The former takes place in Soviet Russia and describes adoctor/scientist desperately in love with one of his patients, an actress. His narrative is actuallya long reminiscence, since in real time he has recently returned from a ten-year sentence and isworking as a cab driver. He picks up a group of merry-makers, and his long-lost love is amongthem. It makes the hero recall the past, a relationship spanning many years in which the doctorconstantly forgave his lady her latest fling. The absent-minded, self-destructive man elicits thereader's identification. He had been arrested when he stole a small boat and headed out intoBlack Sea in a fit of anger, and was then accused of attempting to leave the Soviet Union. Thisstory is quite interesting because the characters are entirely believable in their own right.In "Carp for the Gefilte Fish" Shrayer-Petrov tells an immigrant story about a mixed couplefrom Russia (she's Jewish, he's native Russian) who settle outside of Providence, Rhode Island.They are happy, but cannot have children due to his infertility, an inherited trait from genera-tions of alcoholics. (It seems unfair to brand the representative Russian with a genetic deforma-tion from vodka, and besides I suspect it has no scientific validity.) The pair works for a Jewishfamily, a widower and his adult daughter, who own a furniture store. Inevitably the two of themfancy the Russians and each makes a pass at his and her love object. The widower succeeds,while the daughter fails; the Jewish woman yields in the hope of having a child, the Russianman turns down the offer, remaining faithful to his wife. The single day in the life of our heroesends with the return of the Russian to his home with the carp that he has caught so that his wifecan make gefilte fish for the boss and his daughter.I read these stories in English translation with interest. This may not be Chekhov or even YuryTrifonov, but Shrayer-Petrov has a certain quiet power. Shrayer-Petrov's prose continues a tra-dition that includes Aleksandr Kuprin, Vladimir Korolenko, and Viktor Erofeev. Although attimes you have to wait for his best writing, the general level is very high. However, mostly youget caught up in the lives of the characters and readjust to find out what will happen.Brian Horowitz, Tulane UniversityMichael J. Mikog, ed. and trans. Polish Literature from 1864 to 1918: Realism and YoungPoland. An Anthology. Bloomington, IN: Slavica, 2006. Bibliography. viii+388 pp.$34.95 (cloth).This latest anthology selected and translated by Michael Mikog is his fifth collection of Polishliterature in English (previous volumes covered the Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque/Enlight-624 Slavic and East Eu-opean Journalenment, and Romantic periods), expanding his contribution to Polish studies by making avail-able in English many previously untranslated Polish realist and modernist texts. The volumecontains nearly a hundred works from twenty-two authors, as well as critical introductions tothe periods "Realism" and "Young Poland," thirty-eight illustrations, brief introductions to eachof the writers included, and comprehensive bibliographies of English translations and criticalstudies in both Polish and English for the two periods covered.The eight-page introductory essay on Polish Realism briefly outlines the historical and philo-sophical foundations of Polish Positivism, as well as the political and cultural climate in eachof the Polish partitions during the second half of the nineteenth century. Although somewhatepisodic, it provides valuable background information on Polish painting, sculpture, music, the-ater, and literary activity (journalism, academic writing, poetry and prose fiction), and contex-tualizes the authors in the anthology (the prose writers Boleslaw Pros, Eliza Orzeszkowa, andHenryk Sienkiewicz: the poets Adam Asnyk, Maria Konopnicka, and Wiktor Gomulicki; theplaywrights Gabriela Zapolska and Michal Balucki; and the Naturalist Adolf Dygasifiski).Taken together, the selections from these authors, which include excerpts from some of thebest-known works in Polish literature (Prus's The Doll and The Pharaoh, Orzeszkowa's On theBanks of the Niemen, and Sienkiewicz's trilogy Mith Fire and Sword, The Deluge, and SihMichael) and lesser-known works (by Gomulicki, Bahucki, and Dygasifiski) provide a represen-tative sampling and give the reader a good sense of the stylistic features and dominant themesof the period. The Polish Realists' interest in history, nature, religion, nationhood, and the livesof "average people," peasants and Jews permeates these selections and aptly conveys the spiritof the times.Similarly, the introduction to the literature of Young Poland (or Polish Modernism) outlinessome of the major political events from the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twenti-eth centuries, and highlights the major accomplishments of Polish scientists, scholars, archi-tects, visual artists, composers, and writers. The authors represented in this section are at oncemore numerous and diverse than in the first, illustrating the sheer variety of styles and influences(Decadence, Symbolism, Impressionism, Naturalism) that makes Young Poland one of Polishliterature's most distinct and fascinating periods. Included here are selections from the poetryof Kazimierz Przerwa-Tetmajer, Jan Kasprowicz. Stanislaw Wyspiafiski, Tadeusz Micifiski,Boleslaw LeWmian, Leopold Staff, Maryla Wolska. and Tadeusz Boy-2elefiski; excerpts fromWyspiafrski's The ffiedding; selected criticism of Stanislaw Przybyszewski and Stanislaw Brzo-zowski; and excerpts from the novels of Stefan 2eromski, Wladyslaw Reymont, and WaclawBerent.One notable result of including both Realist and Modernist works in one volume is the the-matic overlap in both periods, with nature, the peasantry, and Polish patriotism providing a con-sistent backdrop for innovations in literary styles. Also evident are clear moments of departurebetween the two periods, such as the emergence of erotic, mystical, and "Eastern" themes inconnection with European Symbolism. There is a noticeable increase of flow in the Modernistpoetry over that of the previous period, which has everything to do with the source material andindicates no fault of the translator. Mikog was awarded the 1995 Polish PEN Club Prize for histranslations of Polish literature into English, and it is easy to see why: his renderings beautifullyconvey the distinct style of each writer, and include many poetic gems.This anthology will fill a significant gap in the material available in English for students ofPolish literature, as well as for general readers interested in Polish history. There are a largenumber of excerpts, many of which are quite brief; this feature is obviously intentional and al-lows for a broad selection of texts, making this a superb introduction to the major authors andcanonical works of fin-de-si6cle Polish literature.Andrea LanouLx. Connecticut CollegeCOPYRIGHT INFORMATIONTITLE: [Polish Literature from 1864 to 1918]SOURCE: Slavic East Eur J 52 no4 Wint 2008The magazine publisher is the copyright holder of this article and itis reproduced with permission. Further reproduction of this article inviolation of the copyright is prohibited.

(Review) Polish Literature from 1864 to 1918: Realism and Young Poland

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(Review) Polish Literature from 1864 to 1918: Realism and Young Poland

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