Józef Ignacy Kraszewski

Polish writer Józef Ignacy Kraszewski (1812–1887) is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the most prolific author (he created 232 novels in 455 volumes). He lived in Volhynia for more than twenty years, researching the history of the region and describing its nature and people in books translated into many languages of the world during the writer’s lifetime. Kraszewski was born on July 28, 1812, in Warsaw, into a Polish noble family. He studied in Svislach and entered Vilnius University. In 1830, the student Kraszewski was arrested by the Russian authorities for participating in a Polish secret organization. The writer first came to Volhynia in March 1834—to his friend Józef Stachowski in the village of Osowe, and from there he arrived in Horodets to Antoni Urbanowski, owner of perhaps the largest library at that time. In Horodets he met Sofia Voronychevna, his future wife. In 1837, Kraszewski leased the village of Omelno (now in Kivertsi district, Volyn oblast). In a letter to his father, the writer says that the village is in a “deplorable state,” but he plans to raise it “by the surest speculations”: sugar beet and vodka. The “History of Cities and Villages of the Ukrainian SSR,” published in 1970, mentions a park planted by Kraszewski in Omelno, which “even now is the most beautiful corner of the village,” but today this park is on the verge of destruction. And this is despite the fact that the history of this village contains another fact of the cultural coexistence of nations: at the end of the 19th century, the engagement of the world-famous Russian composer Igor Stravinsky took place here. Only in our days have scholars and the public become concerned about the fate of this park. In particular, students of the Kivertsi Gymnasium plan to restore it, since this monument is included in the register of monuments of garden and park art of local significance. In 1840, Kraszewski bought the village of Horodok near Lutsk (now in Lutsk district) with his wife’s money. Life in Horodok was the best time of the Volhynian period in the writer’s biography. Here Kraszewski carried out archaeological excavations, in public affairs converted the peasants to a monetary tax, and began writing the novel “The Cottage Beyond the Village” using local material. Its heroine, the Gypsy Woman, was later also reproduced in a work by the prominent Ukrainian writer and playwright Mykhailo Starytsky (the Kraszewski–Starytsky plot was used as the basis for the famous film by director Grigory Kokhan, “Gypsy Aza”). Even today, in Horodok they remember Kraszewski’s stay in the village; the great-granddaughter of Gypsy Aza also lives there—H. Filoniuk, a teacher at the local school. During the Volhynian period, the writer made new friends: Anton Peretyatkovych from Usychi and Wincenty Korwin-Piotrowski from Kiwerce. Peretyatkovych was a lawyer and helped Kraszewski’s father in property matters; his son Marian was under the guardianship of Józef Ignacy, and together with the latter’s son Jan he lived and studied in Zhytomyr. Anton Peretyatkovych’s grandson became a famous architect, author of designs for many buildings in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Rostov-on-Don. In 1848, Yu. I. Kraszewski bought the village of Hubyn (now in Lokachyn district of Volyn oblast). In 1849, in a letter to his brother Lucjan, the writer wrote: "In the estate in Hubyn I have 1,000 morgs of forest, and in it roe deer, wild boars, black grouse, hares, and in the fields—partridges..., if only I had the time and permission to hunt, I could enjoy myself there..." It is difficult to imagine the traditional economic activity of Volhynia’s population without hunting. After all, even in the mid-19th century, according to the Polish writer J. I. Kraszewski, the Volhynian forests, “which begin beyond Kivertsi, stretch continuously all the way to Pinsk.” Hunting themes also found a place in the work of Yu. I. Kraszewski, who lived in Volhynia for more than 20 years. Kraszewski from the village of Omelno invites his father to visit him “for partridges and roe deer.” The aforementioned book by Yu. I. Kraszewski, which has the eloquent title “Memoirs of Volhynia, Polissia and Lithuania The book is written in the spirit of the romantic “travels” customary in the 18th century, with a traditional plot framework and moralizing digressions about the decline of the good old customs and the fall of morals, in particular hospitality, with which our ancestors were once so famous, and reflections on the past and the future. During his travels—and there were several over 4–5 years—Kraszewski closely observed his native land, used his predecessors’ guidebooks, sat in the libraries of princes and magnates, studied ancient acts, made excerpts from armorials and chronicles, and tirelessly copied archival documents. Because of wars and fires over 200 years, many documents disappeared, so his book remains a valuable source on the history and culture of Volhynia and Polissia, all the more so as the region was closed after Chornobyl. It is worth adding that it was continued by “Sketches from Life and Travels,” as well as “Volhynian Evenings,” published in 1858 in Lviv. All of this was also embodied in his historical novels. Kraszewski wrote: "What, then, is man’s superiority over the animals around him—he has a past! If man had only this one thing, there would already be something to thank the Creator for; and yet how little this is valued!" Ethnography, folklore, and history attracted the writer. An interest in history led to the study of folk culture and the establishment of a retrospective of memory. It is no accident that in his book the author notes that everyday life in these areas is very stable and conservative, so what was seen can be directly projected into the 17th century and even further, all the way back to pagan times. The book "The Art of the Ancient Slavs," held in the collections of the Volyn Museum of Local Lore, was also created on the impressions of what he saw and the material he collected. Józef Ignacy Kraszewski travelled not only with a pen in hand but also with an artist’s sketchbook. His book was carefully decorated with drawings by the author and artistic initials. Readers saw these drawings not in the first edition of the book, but only in the second, Paris edition of 1860. The young writer traveled by horse, by postal cart, and sailed by boat along the waters of Polissia. Over 4–5 years he traversed vast territories in various directions, from his native village of Dovhe in Pruzhany County all the way to Zhytomyr. Following the tradition initiated by Dolenha Khodakivskyi, Kraszewski wanted to record ancient folk customs, local legends and tales; he describes the folk clothing of Volhynians and Polissians, household utensils and tools, the interior furnishings of houses, and the surroundings. The most important thing in all descriptions is that Kraszewski describes the contemporary reality around him. That is why his book was later used by many successors. For example, the 'Geographical Dictionary of the Kingdom of Poland and Other Slavic Countries' sometimes cites Kraszewski's 'Memoirs' as the only source. The writer later devoted much effort, time, and his own money to the protection and preservation of monuments of antiquity. Thus, he even bought the Bonifraters' church in Lutsk as private property with the sole purpose of preventing its destruction, but, unfortunately, in vain. His notable words to readers: 'Unfortunately, we always look for images somewhere far behind us, ahead of us, and never around us. There is a certain charm in a foreign land, while our own is already so over-heard, seen, and simple that in the end we lose for it that feeling of wonder and admiration that we owe it, and we even feel too lazy to get to know it more closely only because we know it mechanically and materially to the point of boredom. That is why a newly arrived foreigner will see more in us and describe it better. This everyday shell of the things around us can easily be broken only by a small effort at observation. We need only want to turn our attention to our native land, and we will find in it thousands of charms, thousands of monuments, thousands of things worthy of wonder!' Wonderful words, deeply relevant even now. Before the journey, Kraszewski read the guidebook by Edward Raczynski, who had visited Volhynia on his way to Turkey. In his 'Diary of a Journey to Turkey Undertaken in the Year 1814,' he noted the sad condition of Volhynian towns, where he saw only miserable mud huts inhabited by Jews. The distinctness of the Greater Poland man's language and culture made itself felt. Raczynski writes: 'It is difficult for a Pole to understand the Ruthenian language spoken by the people in this country. Undoubtedly our forefathers made a great political mistake when they did not try to abolish this language, so strongly similar to Russian.' Kraszewski later visited the same places and described them quite differently—as a man of the 'Eastern Borderlands,' tolerant of another language, customs, and culture. After all, there, on the Polish borderland, over the centuries a culture of coexistence among different peoples had developed. The artist treated the Ukrainian people (Ruthenians) with deep respect; he deeply understood the causes and consequences of the profound upheavals that Volhynia experienced in the 16th and 17th centuries, when social or religious conflicts turned into bloody massacres (a recent example of which is the Volhynian tragedy of the Second World War). Kraszewski believed that only mutual respect, tolerance, and respect for others' beliefs, language, and culture are the only possibility of living in these lands. Kraszewski's favourite hero was the Grand Duke of Lithuania Vytautas (Kraszewski uses the Polish spelling of the name—'Witold'). He portrayed him as an unwavering, at times treacherous, all-knowing ruler in his novel 'Mother of Kings.' Indeed, Vytautas, son of Kęstutis, was a famous knight of his time, who fought the Tatars and Teutonic Knights without sparing his strength. He was at the same time an intelligent, perceptive politician who wished well for his Lithuania (the Grand Duchy of Lithuania covered a much larger territory than modern Lithuania). 'A man who by the strength of his will held on to a shaky throne undermined from all sides, who for several decades did not allow himself to be broken by chance, by people, by betrayal, or by despair, who managed to glorify his name both among the Roman Caesars and in the Tatar hordes; whose state in the most turbulent times stretched from the White Sea to the Black Sea—such a man could not be an ordinary person.' 'Vytautas's battle with Timur-Qutlugh on the Vorskla is one of the most poetic pictures of his life; reading the chroniclers, it seems that they are inventing rather than describing. When Vytautas stood by the Vorskla and beheld the camp of Timur-Qutlugh, Timur sent an envoy to him, who asked: 'Prince, why do you want war? Have we ever ravaged your lands?' Proud was the Lithuanian's answer. 'God has appointed me as ruler of nations! Be my son and tributary, or you will be a captive!' In the chapter 'Lutsk. The History of This City,' the writer describes Vytautas's nest, his castle, a well-preserved wall and several towers. He writes: 'I have seen many castle ruins, but none seemed to me so majestic, so beautiful, so eloquent as this one—or perhaps the name of Vytautas adds charm to it?' And further: 'Volhynian castles have been preserved best, because they were needed the longest. The Ostroh, Dubno, Chortoryisk, Lutsk, Olyka castles, the castle in Koniukhy, etc., both by their number and by their preservation testify to how long this land resisted attacks and what long wars it endured. The Lutsk and Olyka castles can give the best idea of what an ancient defensive castle was like.' Józef Ignacy Kraszewski's complete devotion to literature and public affairs led him to neglect the life of a landowning squire. In fact, having left Volhynia, Józef Ignacy did not die in poverty; with time came both fame and money. But he kept the warmest memories of the Volhynian region, embodying them in literary works, historical studies, and paintings. The funds of the Volhynian Local History Museum hold lifetime editions of Kraszewski's works, a graphic work 'Vilnius. The Gate of Dawn' with the author's signature, a photograph of Józef Ignacy taken in the 1860s, and wall-mounted commemorative medals produced for the 50th anniversary of his literary activity. Kraszewski's correspondence of those times also deserves attention. It is worth noting that most of his letters from Volhynia are an invaluable source for the history of the region. The legacy of the outstanding Polish writer J. I. Kraszewski is worthy of further study, translation, and publication. Oleksii Zlatohorskyi