DRUGIE ŻYCIE NIEDOSZŁEJ DYSERTACJI NIEMCEWICZ OD PRZODU I TYŁU KAROLA ZBYSZEWSKIEGO
THE SECOND LIFE OF A REJECTED DOCTORAL DISSERTATION: “NIEMCEWICZ FRONT AND BACK” BY KAROL ZBYSZEWSKI

Summary/Abstract: The article presents a controversial and unsuccessful doctoral dissertation by a historian, who at the same time was a satirist, columnist and writer. Karol Zbyszewski wrote this dissertation entitled Niemcewicz front and back before the outbreak of the World War II under the supervision of Prof. Marceli Handelsman. The study was rejected by the Faculty of Humanities of the Warsaw University. A seven-year long preliminary archival research by Karol Zbyszewski concerned the last Polish king and the Great Duke of Lithuania – Stanisùaw August Poniatowski. The study showed a different and incompatible general opinion about the ruler taking into consideration the epoch. The reservations of the Faculty Council of the Warsaw University were about the author’s unrefined and vulgar style as well as the language, which instead of being of scientific character presented a “terrible, fierce and virulent lampoon”. The desecration of national sacredness could not be accepted by the scientists. The book came out under the publication of the famous publisher “Rój” in February 1939. It became a bestseller overnight. This was followed by another edition, which provoked great polemics in the contemporary Polish press. In 1986 the literary biography of Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz, which was a cruel evaluation of national Polish vices, was published again in exile in London, thanks to the Polish Cultural Foundation. The experiences of the World War II led to this intriguing book, which did not arouse disgust. It was treated as a rarity for people having a refined “literary taste”. Its universal character was acknowledged in Polish reality after Russian occupation in 1945.

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