Novel
The Heathen
Poganka
Narcyza Żmichowska · 1846
Synopsis
By a fireside, Beniamin tells friends of his youth: the death of his brother Cyprian, a painter, and his meeting with Aspazja, a woman of antique beauty who takes him to her castle. Dazzled, he detaches himself from the home and family that made up his life and bends to her every desire, while she toys with him; the circle listening gradually gauges what this passion has cost him.
Context
Written in the years when the author was running a clandestine school at Rzeczyca, the novel appeared in 1846 in the Warsaw review Przegląd Naukowy, without the opening tableau that presents, under veiled names, Edward Dembowski and other friends of the author; the complete text was published only in 1861. In it the trace of the author's passion for Paulina Zbyszewska was recognised very early, and since Boy-Żeleński critics have debated it. Ursula Phillips translated it into English in 2012.
Who it is for
A brief novel, framed by an evening gathering among friends, in a refined language. No French translation.
Prizes and reception
Regarded as the major work of its author, a pioneer of the women's movement in Poland, and read today as a novel of veiled female desire.
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