Boleslaw Prus

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Bolesław Prus, 1887
Signature of Bolesław Prus'

Bolesław Prus , [bɔ'lεswaf 'prus] (born August 20, 1847 in Hrubieszów near Lublin as Aleksander Głowacki; † May 19, 1912 in Warsaw ) was a Polish writer and publicist (the pseudonym Prus means in German: Pruzze , that was his coat of arms ). He is one of the most important representatives of Polish literature , but also one of the most important in world literature .

His experiences as a rebel and a prisoner shaped his artistic work. At the age of 25, he embarked on a remarkable journalist career that would last for 40 years. Between 1886 and 1895, Prus published four great novels that reflect the social conditions of his time.

Life

Born in an impoverished noble family, Aleksander Głowacki lost his parents at an early age and grew up with distant relatives. As a student, he participated in the January Uprising . On September 1, 1863, twelve days after his seventeenth birthday, he was captured by Russia during heavy fighting. After being fired for his youth, Prus finished high school in 1866 and enrolled in the Faculty of Science at Warsaw University . He broke off his studies because of financial difficulties, but mainly because of differences with the faculty, and in 1869 he enrolled at the newly founded Institute of Agriculture and Forestry in Puławy , where he had spent part of his childhood. Here, too, he had difficulties with a Russian professor. From then on he studied autodidactically and earned his living as a factory worker, tutor and photographer.

From 1872 he worked as a journalist and gained his first experience as a writer . He wrote humorous short stories. Since he started writing columns for the weekly newspaper Warschauer Kurier , his financial situation has also improved. He married a cousin. There were no children from this connection. A foster son committed suicide in 1904 at the age of 18 because of an unhappy love. Prus probably had another son (* 1906) who died in a German concentration camp after the Warsaw Uprising was put down in 1944.

Prus supported the ideas of Auguste Comte's positivist philosophy . He recognized the importance of journalism and literature for raising national awareness. He began to write under the stage name "Prus". In 1882 he became editor of the Warsaw daily Nowiny . Here he had the opportunity to promote the development of his country, which had lost its political independence in the years 1772–1795 . After less than a year he resumed his work in the Warsaw Courier . He started working on his great novels. In 1886 The Outpost (Placówka) was published on the life of Polish farmers. In 1889 he completed The Doll (Lalka), the story of the unhappy love between a noblewoman and a man who betrays his ideals because of her. The Emancipated (Emancypantki) appeared in 1893, and finally in 1895 his only historical novel, The Pharaoh (Faraon). Although Prus places the story in ancient Egypt 3000 years ago, he deals with the loss of Poland's independence.

Prus' grave

From 1897 to 1899, the Warschauer Kurier published the monograph Die Allgemeine Lebensideale , in which Prus deals with the relationship between the individual and society. The work is still important today for philosophers and social scientists.

"Above all, be useful, then try to be perfect and only at the end take care of your own happiness."

The independence of Poland as a result of the First World War was not to be seen by Bolesław Prus. He died on May 19, 1912 in his Warsaw apartment after 40 years of journalistic and writing work. He was mourned by the whole nation, whom he had served as a soldier, philosopher, and writer, and for whom he had made a place in world literature.

Half a century later, on December 3, 1961 , his museum was opened in the Małachowski Palace in Nałęczów , where Prus had spent the summers with his family from 1882 onwards.

Works

Bolesław Prus - Monument in Warsaw
  • Palais and Hut (1876) German 1914
  • Angelika (1880) ISBN 3-373-00071-8
  • The Miser (1882)
  • The good-for-nothing and the girls (1883) ISBN 3-15-008297-8
  • The outpost (1886) German 1947
  • The doll (1887–1889) German 1954
  • The emancipated (1891-1893) German 1957
  • Pharao (1895/96) German 1944 ISBN 3-89996-058-0

Film adaptations

Web links

Commons : Bolesław Prus  - collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Prus, Boleslaw
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Głowacki, Aleksander (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Polish writer and publicist
DATE OF BIRTH August 20, 1847
PLACE OF BIRTH Hrubieszów near Lublin
DATE OF DEATH May 19, 1912
Place of death Warsaw