Bolesław Prus podziwia Helenę Modrzejewską
Bolesław Prus admires Helena Modrzejewska

Author(s): Józef Bachórz
Subject(s): Theatre, Dance, Performing Arts, Cultural history, Theoretical Linguistics, Applied Linguistics, Studies of Literature, Philology, Theory of Literature, British Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: Bolesław Prus; 19th century; Polish theatres; Helena Modrzejewska
Summary/Abstract: Bolesław Prus took a lively interest in Polish theatre, which he followed out of a sense of journalistic duty (throughout his life Prus earned most of his income through journalism). He took careful note of major events in Poland’s cultural life, notably those taking place in the Russian-occupied Kingdom of Poland, where the theatres were licensed to produce plays in Polish. Prus did not put a lot of a weight on theatre, which he never saw as fundamental to the nation’s life (he was similarly unimpressed by the other arts, including, perhaps a touch surprisingly, literature), and tended to focus instead on those areas which he saw as more fundamental to the well-being of society, such as education, science, economic development or relationships between social classes. Having said that, Prus enjoyed his theatre, and he paid attention to productions taking place in Warsaw. Notable among his numerous columns on the problems, events and personalities of Warsaw’s theatre are those which focus on the actress Helena Modrzejewska. Many of his columns written in 1882 and 1885 pay considerable attention to the actress. Prus believed that Modrzejewska was one of the most eminent artists of the theatre in Poland and abroad, and he ranked her alongside the famous Sarah Bernhardt. He admired here xtraordinary talent and range of expression, noting how her professionalism was based on reliability and diligence. Prus never joined her critics who decried Modrzejewska’s decision to pursue a career in the United States and did not see her as being unpatriotic. He criticised instead the Polish version of the tall poppy syndrome whose poisonous brew of envy and backbiting encouraged the more enterprising individuals to leave the country for an international career.

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