Positivism in Poland
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Poland Portal |
Positivism in Poland was a socio-cultural movement that defined progressive thought in literature and other walks of life in partitioned Poland following the disastrous January 1863 Uprising against Imperial Russia, until the turn of the 20th century and the advent of the Young Poland movement.
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[edit] History
In the aftermath of the 1863 Uprising, many Poles abandoned their hopes of regaining Poland's independence from Russia, Germany and Austro-Hungary by force of arms. Together with those hopes they – often reluctantly and only partially – set aside the style of the Romantic period.[1]
Polish "Positivism" drew its name from the Frenchman Auguste Comte's philosophy but much of its ideology also from the works of British scholars and scientists, including Herbert Spencer and John Stuart Mill. The Polish Positivists advocated the exercise of reason before emotion. They argued that independence, if it is to be regained, must be won gradually, by "building from the foundations" (creating a material infrastructure and educating the public) and through "organic work" that would enable Polish society to function as a fully integrated social organism (a concept borrowed from Herbert Spencer).[2]
The leading Polish journalist, short-story writer and novelist Bolesław Prus advised his compatriots that Poland's place in the world would be determined by the contributions that she made to the world's scientific, technological, economic and cultural progress.[3]
Specific societal questions addressed by the Polish Positivists included the establishment of equal rights for all members of society, including peasants and women; the assimilation of Poland's Jewish minority; and the defense of the Polish population in the German-ruled part of Poland against Kulturkampf and displacement by German settlers.[4]
The Positivists viewed work, not uprisings, as the true way to maintain a Polish national identity and demonstrate a constructive patriotism.[5]
[edit] Authors
Writers of the Polish Positivist period included:
- Adam Asnyk (1838-1897)
- Adolf Dygasiński (1839–1902)
- Eliza Orzeszkowa (1841-1910)
- Maria Konopnicka (1842-1910)
- Henryk Sienkiewicz (1846-1916; Nobel Prize, 1905)
- Bolesław Prus (1847-1912)
- Wiktor Gomulicki (1848–1919)
- Aleksander Świętochowski (1849–1938)
- Antoni Sygietyński (1850–1923)
- Gabriela Zapolska (1857-1921)
- Maria Rodziewiczówna (1863-1944)
- Adam Asnyk (1838-1897)
- Felicjan Faleński (1825-1910)
- Maria Ilnicka (1825 or 1827-1897)
- Aleksander Michaux (1839-1895)
- Wacław Rolicz-Lieder
- Adam Asnyk
- Michał Bałucki (1837-1901)
- Józef Bliziński (1827-1893)
- Felicjan Faleński (1825-1910)
- Edward Lubowski (1837-1923)
- Józef Narzymski (1839-1872)
- Zygmunt Sarnecki (1837-1922)
- Józef Szujski (1835-1883)
- Aleksander Świętochowski (1849-1938)
- Kazimierz Zalewski (1849-1919)
- Bolesław Prus (1847-1912)
- Piotr Chmielowski (1848-1904)
- Aleksander Świętochowski (1849-1938)
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
- ^ Czesław Miłosz, The History of Polish Literature, p. 283.
- ^ Czesław Miłosz, The History of Polish Literature, pp. 283–84.
- ^ Edward Pieścikowski, Bolesław Prus, p. 49.
- ^ Czesław Miłosz, The History of Polish Literature, p. 284.
- ^ Czesław Miłosz, The History of Polish Literature, p. 285.
[edit] References
- Czesław Miłosz, The History of Polish Literature, 2nd edition, Berkeley, University of California Press, 1983, ISBN 0-520-04477-0, pp. 281–321.
- Edward Pieścikowski, Bolesław Prus, 2nd edition, Warsaw, Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, 1985, ISBN 83-01-05593-6.
- Jan Zygmunt Jakubowski, ed., Literatura polska od średniowiecza do pozytywizmu (Polish Literature from the Middle Ages to Positivism), Warsaw, Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, 1979, ISBN 83-01-00201-8, pp. 543–692.
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