Literary Activities and Attitudes in the Stanislavian Age in Poland (1764-1795): A Social System? by Jan IJ. van der Meer (review)

Abstract

7I8 SEER, 8i, 4, 2003 manuscripts,though tantalizinglythe early exampleshave not yet been satisfactorily deciphered.They have been discussedin relationto Church SlavonicpoetrybyJakobsonandothers,andhavea significant bearingonthe elusivequestionofthedistinctive configuration ofoldRussianculture. So indeeddo manyof the interesting points too numerousto mention evenin an extensivereview in thisverywell-stocked book.Nobodycould claimit asa quickread,butitwouldbe apityifitweretobe usedonlyasan encyclopaedicreference-work: argumentsare developed (e.g. from the conceptthat'bookswerea Christian monopoly') thatdeserveto be followed through.Franklinlightenshis texturethroughhis gift for antitheticallystructured one-liners ('Thewritingofmeaningisonlyone ofthemeaningsof writing', p. 255)aswellasotherstylistic devices,someofwhich(e.g.insistence on aninternalhyphenin 'com-poser' and'equi-valent') willdoubtless drivea few readersto distraction. The bookis nicelyproduced,well-indexed, with foot-of-pagenotes;thereare some illustrations (we could have done with more)anda verybasicmap;savefora garbledGermancitationon p. 86 it seemsfreeofmisprints. Finally,onemustmentionafeatureofthevolumethat maysurprise ordisappoint itsreaders: thevirtualabsenceofanydiscussion of 'literariness' (e.g. the interactionbetweenthe oral and writtenrealmsof literature, orliteraryqualitiesingeneral).Franklin, acknowledging this,hints thathe maygiveus anothervolumetacklingthisvasttopic.Letus hopeso: together bothbookswillconstitute a splendid diptych. University ofSussex R. R. MILNER -GULLAND Meer, Jan U. van der. Literagy Activities andAttitudes in theStanislavian Agein Poland(I764-I795).- A SocialSystem? Studies in Slavic Literature and Poetics, 36. Editions Rodopi, Amsterdam and New York, 2002. 339 pp. Notes. Tables. Figures.Bibliography.?65.oo: $65.00 (paperback). IN the last three decades before partition,literarylife in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth came of age. Whereas prior to the mid-eighteenth century much if not most literary output circulated in manuscript, the Church(es) controlled the printing presses and nothing we might recognize as literary criticism existed, by the 178os, the printed word had assumed a dominant role, the book trade had become a lucrative business led by laymen, and diverse views on literature were expressed in both theoretical treatises and periodicals. This was reflected in the development of older genres, and the appearance of new ones- notably the Polish novel. Literary patronage remained important, and only a miserable life could be eked out by a writer without it, but a growing number of semi-independent authorswrote firstand foremostforthe public (theword 'publicum'or 'publicznosc'began to be used in its modern sense as a tribunal of opinion, as well as its older sense of the common good). The lion's share of this literary activity took place in the mushrooming city of Warsaw, which had about ioo,ooo inhabitants by the end of the decade, of whom about a third could read. The reading bug was caught by a stillwider public duringthe Great Sejm of I788-1792. However, as it did so, literature underwent intense politicization, and much of the REVIEWS 719 diversity of literarylife was lost. As one contemporary observed: 'romances, poetry and other light works of Frenchwritersand scribes stood untouched, while even dandies and women were carried away by the general tide, and went about with politics and the new constitutionin theirheads' (p. I05). The production of newspaperstripled,the massivedemand forpoliticalpamphlets enriched booksellers,and theatre-goersflockedto applaudpolitical plays, but sales of novels plummeted and literarycriticismbecame superfluous.In these regards,the PolishRevolution had a similareffectto its Frenchcounterpart. These, in outline, are the findingsof Polishliteraryscholarship,that, forthe first time in English, are made available by Jan IJ. van der Meer. He has mined over two hundred bibliographies, dictionaries, monographs and articles, supplementing them by careful use of contemporary memoirs, in order to construct a coherent interpretation, enhanced by his own research on particular questions. He integrates the literature of the confederacies of Radom and Bar (I767-72), which has often been marginalized, into the broader picture, and draws linksbetween the didacticJesuit comedies of the 175os and 176os and those written duringthe revolutionaryyears (I 788-94). The section on the scant reading societies and the numerous political clubs callsinto questionaspectsofJurgen Habermas'stheoryof thepublic sphere probably its first application to Stanislavian Poland. The author draws judicious conclusions from statisticalanalyses. But, questionably, he devotes much more attention to novels and plays than to poetry. The reader will search in vain for the longer poetical works that made Ignacy Krasicki's reputation.As Teresa Kostkiewiczowa (Polskiwieks'wiatet, Wroclaw, 2002) has reiterated, poetry kept its leading place in the literary culture of this period. Van der Meer surprisingly ignores Elzbieta Aleksandrowska'sprominent article in Pami4tnik Literacki (i99i). She demonstrates that the king wrote...