He was successful in using tale
narration in many of his works (Ostatnie chwile księcia wojewody
"Panie Kochanku" 1875, Raptularz pana Mateusza Jasienieckiego
1880 and others). His most famous enterprise within the genre of
historical novels, was the series of 29 novels on the history of
Poland. He started it with Stara baśń (1876) - which referred to
the legendary epoch. From the very beginning the novel enjoyed
great popularity, and was later his most often republished work
(up to 2000 it was published more than 60 times). Next he wrote
about the Piast dynasty (among others Boleszczyce 1877, Król
chłopów 1881), the Jagiellonians (Semko 1882, Matka królów
1883 and others) and the oriental rulers (i.e. Boży gniew 1886).
The series was completed with the posthumously published
Saskie ostatki (1889).
Józef Ignacy Kraszewski
Stara baśń
543
Kraszewski's literary activities were characterised by patriotic
intentions, tinged with antipathy toward the aristocracy, affinity
with the gentry (whose vices he would castigate, but whom he
considered to be the mainstay of national awareness) and a
tendency to idealise the peasants. The realists of Positivism
regarded him as their teacher. Just by himself, he managed to
create a library of novels, which, in the second half of the
nineteenth century, was appreciated not only by Polish readers
(he was a popular writer in Poland even in the twentieth century),
but also by readers from the majority of European countries. More
than a hundred of his novels have been translated into foreign
languages. Some of them have been translated into many
languages (Jermoła - 9, Ulana and Hrabina Cosel - 8, Herod baba,
Morituri and Stara baśń - 6). Before Sienkiewicz he was the most
often translated Polish author.
Transtaled into English Tadeusz Z. Wolański
BIBLIOGRAFIA - BIBLIOGRAPHY Księga jubileuszowa dla uczczenia pięćdziesięcioletniej
działalności literackiej J. I. Kraszewskiego, Warszawa 1880.
Bibliografia literatury polskiej "Nowy Korbut" t. XII. Józef Ignacy
Kraszewski. Zarys bibliograficzny. Oprac. St. Stupkiewicz, I.
Śliwińska,W. Roszkowska-Sykałowa, Kraków 1966.
S. Burkot, Powieści współczesne (1863-1887) Józefa Ignacego
Kraszewskiego, Kraków 1967.
Józef Ignacy Kraszewski
Stara baśń
544
K. Czachowski, Między romantyzmem a realizmem. Oprac. A.
Czachowski, Warszawa 1867.
W. Danek, Józef Ignacy Kraszewski, Warszawa 1973.
E. Owczarz, Dydaktyka społeczna w powieściach J. I.
Kraszewskiego, Warszawa 1987.
Zdziwienia Kraszewskim. Pod red. M. Zielińskiej, Wrocław 1990.
J. Bachórz, Józef Ignacy Kraszewski [w:] Obraz literatury polskie
XIX i XX wieku, seria trzecia t. III, Warszawa 1992.
Kraszewski - pisarz współczesny. Pod red. E. Ihnatowicz,
Wraszawa 1996.
Józef Ignacy Kraszewski