Background
Nałkowska was born into a family of intellectuals dedicated to issues of social justice, and studied at the clandestine Flying University under the Russian partition.
1905
Nałęczów, Poland
Young writers on a literary evening. Zofia Nałkowska is sitting in the middle
1938
Zakopane, Poland
Zofia Nałkowska in Zakopane
1950
Warsaw, Poland
Zofia Nałkowska sitting from the right at the congress of the Union of Polish Writers, next to: Anna Kowalska, Jan Parandowski and Maria Dąbrowska
1954
Opole, Poland
Zofia Nałkowska with the local authorities in front of the provincial residence of Polish United Workers' Party
1976
Krakow, Poland
Portrait of Zofia Nałkowska during the interwar years
Zofia Nałkowska at Karol Szymanowski's villa "Atma"
Members of the Polish Academy of Literature. Zofia Nalkowska sitting from the left
( The novel in Europe in the early 20th century took a de...)
The novel in Europe in the early 20th century took a decidedly inward turn, and Choucas (1927) is an intriguing example of the modernist psychological tradition. Its author, Zofia Nalkowska (18841954), was a celebrated Polish novelist and playwright. She rose to prominence in interwar Poland and was one of a group of early feminist writers that included Pola Gojawiczynska, Maria Dabrowska, and Maria Kuncewiczowa. Choucas is set in the Swiss Alps in the mid-1920s in a sanatoria village near Lake Geneva. The book has an international focus, and the narrator, a polish woman, profiles a motley collection of visitors to the village and patients at the sanatorium and their interactions with each other. Among these she encounters Armenian survivors of the 191516 genocide who were given refuge in Switzerland. The characters are all from different countries and each represents a distinct political or religious point of view. The title is derived from the French word for a species of bird native to this region of Switzerland. Nalkowska was known for her love of nature and animals, and the birds have symbolic significance for the characters themselves. The choucas fly down from the mountain passes seeking food, while some of the characters in the novel wander around the sanatorium seeking philosophical truths. In Choucas, there is a strong autobiographical element to the story, as Nalkowska had stayed in a sanatorium in Leysin, Switzerland, with her husband in 1925. A comparison may also be drawn with the classic novel by Thomas Mann, The Magic Mountain (1924), which has similar themes. The book delineates a fascinating time period, and the author’s concise fictional technique is strikingly innovative and groundbreaking. Choucas is a fine example of early modernist literature and is translated for the first time into English for a new generation of readers.
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diarist journalist playwright writer
Nałkowska was born into a family of intellectuals dedicated to issues of social justice, and studied at the clandestine Flying University under the Russian partition.
Upon Poland"s return to independence she became one of the country"s most distinguished feminist writers of novels, novellas and stage-plays characterized by socio-realism and psychological depth. Nałkowska"s first literary success was the Romans Teresy Hennert (The Romance of Teresa Hennert, 1923) followed by a slew of popular novels. She is best known for her books Granica (Boundary, 1935), the Węzły życia (Bonds of Life, 1948) and Medaliony (Medallions, 1947).
In her writing, Nałkowska boldly tackled difficult and controversial subjects, professing in her 1932 article "Organizacja erotyzmu" (Structure of Eroticism) published in the Wiadomości Literackie magazine – the premier literary periodical in Poland at the time – that:..a rational, nay, intellectual approach to eroticism must be encouraged and strengthened, to allow for a consideration of eroticism in conjunction with other aspects of the life of the human community.
Eroticism is not a private matter of the individual. lieutenant has its ramifications within all domains of human life and it is not possible to separate it from them by way of contemptuous disparagement in the name of morality, discretion, or yet by a demotion on the hierarchy of subjects worthy of intellectual attention: it cannot be isolated by prudery or relegated to science for its purely biological dimension." Novels.
( The novel in Europe in the early 20th century took a de...)
Polish Academy of Literature]
She served as the executive member of the prestigious Polish Academy of Literature (1933–1939) during the interwar period.
Physical Characteristics: Photographs taken in the 1930s at the height of her career, when she was a prominent presence in cultural life, portray a tall stylish figure, posing elegantly and tastefully dressed. Until the end of her life she was oversensitive about her beauty, she disagreed with gray hair and wrinkles, was depressed by hearing problems. She wanted to keep her youth at all costs, even when she was already seventy.