Antoni Malczewski and Zenon Fisz: Life and Creative Intersections

Abstract

The article examines the life and work of representatives of the Ukrainian school in Polish literature – poet Antoni Malczewski and prose writer Zenon Fisz (Tadeusz Padalica) in a comparative aspect. First of all, it deals with the characteristic features present in the biography of both artists: the disorder of their personal lives, oblivion after death as it is unknown where their graves are. The lives of both artists are closely connected with Ukraine: Antoni – with Volhynia, Zenon – with the Dnipro region. It is this factor that determined the writers’ interest in Ukrainian topics. Considerable attention is paid to the poem “Maria” with its documentary basis, which brought Malczewski recognition only after the author’s death. And the influence of the poem on the work of Zenon Fisz, which is manifested in the theme, composition, and figurative system, is naturally investigated. In the story “Taras’ Night” lines from “Maria” are used as epigraphs to the work. In another work (“Pamiętnik legitymuącego się szlachcica”), Malczewski’s Maria is a female ideal, a standard. But perhaps the most points of intersection are in modeling the image of the cossack Mamai (the symbolic meaning of this character is decoded). Malczewski chose the image of Mamai not by chance. As it is known, the cossack Mamai is one of the most famous heroes of Ukrainian folklore. He is most often depicted on picturesque canvases of the 17th –18th centuries, in the form of a crested cossack bandura player (the bandura is a symbol of the singing soul of the people): in a zhupani, blue harem pants, sapyan boots, in a pose with crossed legs. Nearby are indispensable attributes: a faithful companion horse – a symbol of will, an oak – a symbol of power, a weapon (spear, saber, rifle) – readiness for battle, a pipe – loneliness, cossack damask and a glass, which were placed in the grave, reminded of the transience of life and the fate of a cossack. Cossack Mamai – a symbol of invincibility; greatness of spirit and optimism of a Ukrainian; the singing soul of the people; the transience of life; courage. So, the brave gymnasium student Antoni, or “Antosko”, as he was often called, posed before the artist in the image of the cossack Mamai, with a kobza in his hands, as evidenced by a lithograph by an unknown author. In the works of Z. Fisz, Mamai is one of the most important characters in the system of artistic images, the theme of Haidamachchyna is associated with him (the story “Zosia Żytkiewiczówna”). However, the semantics of this image differs from its interpretation in Ukrainian folklore. The article briefly examines the influence of Ukrainian writer G. Kvitka-Osnovianenko on Z. Fisz’s work.