The Doll
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Boleslaw Prus is often compared to Chekhov, and PrusтАЩs masterpiece might be described as an intimate epic, a beautifully detailed, utterly absorbing exploration of life in late-nineteenth-century Warsaw, which is also a prophetic reckoning with some of the social forcesтАФimperialism, nationalism, anti-Semitism among themтАФthat would soon convulse Europe as never before. But The Doll is above all a brilliant novel of character, dramatizing conflicting ideas through the various convictions, ambitions, confusions, and frustrations of an extensive and varied cast.
At the center of the book are three men from three different generations. PrusтАЩs fatally flawed hero is Wokulski, a successful businessman who yearns for recognition from PolandтАЩs decadent aristocracy and falls desperately in love with the highborn, glacially beautiful Izabela.┬аWokulskiтАЩs story is intertwined with those of the incorrigibly romantic old clerk Rzecki, nostalgic for the revolutions of 1848, and of the bright young scientist Ochocki, who dreams of a future full of flying machines and other marvels, making for a book of great scope and richness that is, as Stanis┼Вaw Bara┼Дczak writes in his introduction, at once тАЬan old-fashioned yet still fascinating love story . . . , a still topical diagnosis of societyтАЩs ills, and a forceful yet subtle portrayal of a tragically doomed man.
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BOLES┼БAW PRUS (1847тАУ1912) was born Aleksander G┼Вowacki in the provincial town of Hrubiesz├│w, Poland. His mother died in 1850; his father, an estate steward of noble birth (the authorтАЩs pen name is a reference to the familyтАЩs origin near the Prussian border), died six years later, leaving him in the care of relatives in Pu┼Вawy and Lublin. In 1862, he moved to Kielce with his older brother Leon, a Polish patriot. The next year, the teenaged Aleksander joined in the January 1863 uprising against Russian rule. Wounded in battle, he was imprisoned in Lublin Castle, but released when he was discovered to be underage. He then finished high school and enrolled in university, but lacked the funds to graduate. Instead, he worked several odd jobs, including a stint in a metallurgical factory, before taking up journalism. Prus eventually made a name for himself as a writer of feuilletons, publishing his much-admired┬аKroniki┬аin the┬аKurier Warszawskibetween 1875 and 1887 and also achieving some success with his short stories.The Outpost, published in 1885, was the first of four novels that secured his literary reputation. It was followed by┬аThe Doll┬а(1890),┬аEmancipated Women(1894), and┬аThe Pharaoh┬а(1897). A respected but no longer fashionable writer, Prus dedicated his last years to social reform and philanthropic work.
STANIS┼БAW BARA┼ГCZAK is a poet, translator, and literary critic. He won the 2007 Nike Award for the best work of Polish literature published in the previous year and the 2009 Silesius Poetry Award for lifetime achievement. He is a professor of Polish language and literature at Harvard University.
DAVID WELSH'S translations include┬аA Dreambook for Our Time┬аby Tadeusz Konwicki,┬аCloak of Illusion┬аby Stanislaw Dygat, and┬аBlack Torrent┬аby Leopold Buczkowski.
