ABOUT THIS BOOK

Women’s studies are still in their infancy in Poland and this pioneering book is one of the most comprehensive and well-researched studies on nineteenth-century Polish women prose writers. Selecting writers that reflect the most turbulent time in Polish women’s literature, such as Klementyna Hoffmanowa, Narcyza Zmichovska, Eliza Orzeszkowa and Zofia Nalkowska. Borkowska’s approach of major feminist theories and post-feminist thought results in astonishing findings that throw new light on Polish women writers and their contribution to European thought. The author’s intelligent and effective use of feminist criticism and clarity of thought make Alienated Women a landmark study, suitable for (all students) and scholars of Polish literature, women’s studies and feminist theory.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Grazyna Borkowska is Assistant Professor in the Institute of Literary Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences.

REVIEWS

"Focusing on women who tried to shed the `encumbering corset` of social, moral, and literary tradition, Borkowska contributes a new perspective on Polish letters."
-- Choice

"As the first comprehensive work on Polish women's prose in English, Grazyna Borkowska's Alienated Women is a milestone in Slavic women's studies.... provides a long awaited introduction to Polish writing for non-specialists, while offering compelling analyses of the works of some of Poland's greatest writers to scholars in Slavic women's studies."
-- Slavic and East European Journal

"Grazyna Borkowska embraces Polish writing, beginning with the early 1800s. She creates a critical dimension scrupulously embracing the written record of literary criticism with a history of voiced desire... Borkowska's historical presentation is extremely compelling."
-- Slavic Review

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction: Feminist Criticism in Relation to Art and the Theory of Culture: A Short Review Does there exist a subject of dispute? Art as play (the “post-Freudian” psychoanalytic variant) Art as a subjective act Art as the reinterpretation of existing reality Art as a place of personal contact A stroll around the theme Where do we stand? Part 1: The Question of the “Enthusiasts” Chmielowski was not the first Two myths: the literary and the patriotic The position of the historians Women and history Who were the Enthusiasts? The feminism of the Enthusiasts Part 2: Zmichowska versus Hoffmanowa: The Strategy of the Bee An espcially important text and an especially important person Without precedent Mistress and pupil—two biographies, two personalities An ideal coincidence The new situation The parting of the ways Oversight or treason The strategy of the bee Part 3: Grappling with Form Baffling and peculiar novels A brief survey of the form of the novels From Sterne to Irzykowski Zmichowska the eccentric Zmichowska as a Postmodernist writer Part 4: The Samaritan Woman at the Well The problem of ownership The negative answer The link with Mickiewicz The positive answer The author and her sex A woman of a transitional age Conclusions The family circle Children and family life in centuries past (according to Philippe Ariès) Family life (according to Zmichowska) The lack of a father The “Romantic” mother Narcyza’s brain Self-realization The anti-martyrological trend and the “martyr’s plam” Self-realization—continued Psychoanalytic threads From Pierre Leroux to psychoanalysis The androgyne:”not to be a man, not to be a woman” In conclusion: the story of Christ and the Samaritan woman Part 5: Orzeszkowa and the Strategy of Self-Adjustment Another generation, other modes of behavior The rule and the exception—Konopnicka Unspoken choices Another model Orzeszkowa Moulding her biography Ascetism and renunciation Fiction by secondary writers Images of the mother Eros and Psyche Calculations, results, conclusions: Orzeszkowa’s Parnassism The strategy of self-adjustment Part 6: Orzeszkowa: Self-Correction and the Problem of Limits Signals of a change Moments of revelation From ascetism to ecstasy Love Other surprises Where does this all come from? Orzeszkowa’s corse Part 7: Four Roads: Regression, Narcissism, Struggle, Art Feminization Works written by women Digression: what is women’s literature/poetry? The first scenario: retrogression Nietzscheanism (the second scenario) The third scenario: war and revolution The fourth scenario: love and art Parnassism Part 8: A Comparative Reading of the Diaries of Zofia Nalkowska and Maria Dabrowska Mythical beginnings The diary as a prefiguration of works to come Diaries and truth Conclusion