"IV Księga Ezdrasza" w polskiej literaturze XIX wieku (E. Orzeszkowa oraz M. Konopnicka i S. Witwicki)
"IV Ezra" in Polish Literature of the Nineteenth Century (E. Orzeszkowa, M. Konopnicka, S. Witwicki)

Summary/Abstract: The article concerns the traces of the Old Testament apocrypha IV Ezra in the Polish literature of the nineteenth century. It shows how the prose (novel Mirtala of Eliza Orzeszkowa) and Polish poetry (Ezra’s prayer of Maria Konopnicka and Ezra and Uriel of Stefan Witwicki) exploit issues evoked by the Biblical apocrypha and portray the figure of its author. The analyzed texts demonstrate that the Polish writers knew the Old Testament apocrypha and therefore it explains its presence in the Polish literary culture of the nineteenth century. An interesting issue is the question of how Polish culture absorbed the apocryphal book. Numerous textual and archival traces lead to French and German works, but an indication of specific sources is still a research task for biblical scholars and historians of literature.

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