„Nuta ukraińska” Wielkopolanki. Jeszcze o Zbigniewie Zmorskiej
Wielkopolanka’s “Ukrainian Note”: More on Zbigniewa Zmorska

Summary/Abstract: Forgotten output of Zbigniewa Zmorska (1852–1894), prematurely deceased daughter of a poet, a radical democrat and Slavophile Roman Zmorski, amounts to 24 pieces (novellas and longer short stories, single poems, dramas, journalistic sketches). Zmorska’s works are characterised by conventional poetics of the romance-customary novel plot with elements of social criticism and ideology of “moderate” emancipation typical of this epoch (a vast array of exquisitely charming heroines with fiery temperament). The Ukrainian motif stands out against this background (e.g. Druhy Companions, 1878, Z opowiadania rezydenta. From a Resident’s Story, 1882, Mykita 1890, Nitka jedwabiu A Thread of Silk, 1905), which presents Ukrainian landscape and the lives of the Ukrainians (i.e. the Cossacks), and which reveals Zmorska’s fascination with aesthetic and ideological tradition of (post)romantic “Ukrainian school.” The most original poetic-journalistic text of Companions calls for Polish-Ukrainian conciliation and contains intriguing references to the 19th c. Ukrainian national discourse (Brotherhood of Saint Cyril and Methodius, Księgi bytu narodu ukraińskiego. Books of the Genesis of the Ukrainian People), and the canon of Ukrainian poetry (Taras Shevchenko), allowing to show appreciation of Zmorska—an unrecognised representative of Ukrainism in Polish literature (culture).

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