Novel
Pałuba
Not translated into English
Karol Irzykowski · 1903
Opening lines
W pewnym powiecie Galicji, tam gdzie zboczywszy od głównego gościńca, jedzie się tak zwaną polską drogą przez długi na parę mil młody las, pełny leszczyny, która gałęziami muska po twarzy jadącego wózkiem podróżnego, znajduje się wieś Wilcza, własność szlacheckiej rodziny Strumieńskich.
In a certain district of Galicia, where, turning off the main highway, one travels by a so-called Polish road through a young forest several miles long, full of hazel whose branches brush the face of the traveller riding in a cart, lies the village of Wilcza, property of the noble Strumieński family.
Translation by Erostrate
Text quoted from wolnelektury.pl
Synopsis
Piotr Strumieński, a boy of low birth adopted by a wealthy landowner whose estate he inherits, meets a woman painter, Angelika, in Italy and lives with her a love meant to be wholly ideal. After her tragic death, he marries Ola, but keeps alive in himself and around him the cult of the dead woman, to the point of drawing in his son Pawełek. The narrative constantly breaks off to dismantle the illusions of its hero and to comment on its own making.
Context
Begun around 1891, completed a first time in 1899 and in its definitive form in July 1902, the book appeared in Lviv in 1903, at Bernard Połoniecki's Polish Bookshop, together with the tale Les Rêves de Maria Dunin and several comments by the author on both texts. Critics received it badly, not knowing whether they were dealing with a novel or an essay, and it was the only edition published in the author's lifetime. Its 1948 reissue, prefaced by Kazimierz Wyka, began its rediscovery. Marek Nowicki made the film Widziadło from it. In French, after an attempt by Karol Ludwik Koniński in the thirties, extracts appeared in a bilingual edition in 2007.
Who it is for
A long, disconcerting book, in which the narrative constantly gives way to commentary; it demands patience. In French, only selected extracts have appeared.
Prizes and reception
Mocked when it appeared, it is now regarded as a precursor of the psychological novel and of the narrative that comments on its own writing.
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