Dzieci nędzy – from a narrative poem to a novel. A preliminary study towards a reconstruction of Stanisław Przybyszewski’s creative process

Abstract

The origins of Dzieci nędzy (1913) and the story of its writing offer interesting insights into the creative work of Stanisław Przybyszewski, the most prominent writer of the Young Poland period. The study has revealed, e.g., his aversion (or inability rather) to introduce radical modifications to already finished texts and that his literary efficiency increased the further he was from big cities. A collation of the novel and a reading of private documents have enabled me to ascertain that the final shape of Dzieci nędzy was to a large extent influenced by Przybyszewski’s personal complications and trying circumstances, which severely determined (or rather undermined) his writing process, as well as the interventions by his editor who demanded additions to the work, with which the writer always agreed and added several chapters. Those diligently developed corrections proved how important the editorial remarks of the need to improve the text were to the writer.
 However, the most important discovery resulting from the textual study is that of the author’s decision to abandon his initial intention to author an epic poem in prose and shift to the novelistic form. That resolution, a kind of a surrender in the struggle with matter, proves Przybyszewski’s innovative approach to the novel and as a result of it Dzieci nędzy are an artistically interesting modern record of psychological states. In terms of structural and narrative solutions, it is clearly one of the most interesting novels by Przybyszewski.