We go back to Conrad again, for his character and creativity request many discussions, appeals or reflections...And besides recalling the writer's statements erstwhile we face doubt. For example, Conrad himself admitted that Maryatt's novels influenced the choice of his maritime profession, his passion for the sea...What about the influence of Polish authors? In his youth, he met Polish romanticist poets who imprinted an unmarked mark on his soul. In this regard, it is appropriate to quote the words of an interview writer, printed in the "Illustrated Week" (18.4.1914) on the occasion of his arrival in Poland in 1914:
“English critics, speaking of me, always say that there is something incomprehensible, incomprehensible, elusive in me. any of you can't grasp it, you can't realize it. It's Polish. The Polishness I took to my works by Mickiewicz and Słowacki. “Mr Tadeusz” my father read me loudly and told me to read to him loudly. Not once, not twice. I preferred “Konrad Wallenrod” and “Grażyna”. Later I preferred Slovak. You know why? due to the fact that he is the soul of all Poland... ( Conrad’s last conviction was in French).’
We besides know that erstwhile young Korzenowski left Krakow, his uncle Bobrowski offered him any old household photographs and “Mr Tadeusz”. We besides remember that Conrad, even during his sea expeditions, did not part with this song, as did Shakespeare’s works. After years of shipping he showed these Mickiewicz volumes, framed in black canvas, visiting him at his home, at Capel home ( Kent). And so J.H. Retinger recalls it by quoting Conrad's words: "I have saved nothing from my heritage but these scalding dagerotypes and this book that I could not read adequate during my long journeys" ( vide "Conrad and his Contemporarys".
Despite his full appeal to the age of Mickiewicz Conrad in his conversation in 1914, he confessed that he preferred “Konrad Wallenrod and “Grażyna”. This amazing confession seems to be a misunderstanding at first glance, but the author of "Lord Jim" surely knew what he was saying. And the researchers of Conrad’s work are not surprising, for the motive for guilt and betrayal is 1 of Conrad’s leading themes. And – as Wit Tarnawski writes – it involves the deep experience of their creator, who in himself had to deal with the charge of desertion and misappropriation of his homeland, made publically (although wrongly!) by Peanut. A – Tarnawski further notes – in Mickiewicz's works the gallery of actual or apparent traitors, actual or possible is besides rich: Wallenrod, Almanzor, priest Robak, Litawor. In addition, wine, betrayal, and remorse frequently appeared in romanticist poetry. In the case of Mickiewicz, besides Conrad, this repetition of the game of betrayal can mention to individual experiences. Tarnawski continues: "Especially, Wallenrod seems to be a very individual concept of a poet who, during his five-year exile to Russia, himself "crying silently as the serpent was despotic" and who may have had Wallenrod's function for a time. Staying in Russia – mostly free and comfortable – had to impose, moreover, on Mickiewicz a minute of serious anxiety of conscience, whether or not he was compromising his homeland, and most likely not even spared him the charges of serveilism against the despot – which Boy then raised in 1 of his bronze articles" (p.205/6).
The characters of these "traitors" or penitentiaries in Mickiewicz could surely impress Conrad's imagination, who faced this problem his full life – Tarnawski believes. Personally, however, I would not put a sign of an equation between the situation of specified Wallenrod and Conrad's existential position, who chose to emigrate to England, and this 1 was not hostile to Poland. Konrad Wallenrod's character must have had a crucial impact on the future author "Lord Jim". It is worth recalling here thesis of Zawodinski about the motives of Conrad's emigration. According to her, a boy to whom Russia tore out his homeland and tormented his parents, who, like Alf in Wajdelota's story, was later to go into the planet with the heart's hidden thoughts of vengeance. It is besides noted that many traitors and penitentiaries in Conrad's novels bear the mark of vallenrodish gloom. It was besides noted that 2 verses from “Konrad Wallenrod” were appearing in the “Wild Man” and 1 of them even finished the novel. But there are besides analyses going beyond the Wallenrod ellipse of guilt and betrayal. And so, Jerzy Łoziński's article “Lord Jim and Father Robak” ( “News”, 21 August 1949) makes parallels between the 2 characters:
"The blurring of the mark of betrayal – this is the issue of "Lord Jim". Here a remarkable resemblance to the past of the shame of Jack Soplica, the hero of the Mikkiewicz era, strikes. This convergence may not be an accident erstwhile we consider that “Mr. Tadeusz” always occupied 1 of the main sites on Conrad's library shelves.”
It would be more appropriate to show the influence of the Mickiewicz epopei on Conrad for boys years, erstwhile the joint reading of the work together with the father of the future author penetrated as if through osmosis into the soul, and then continued its action during long years of sailing. Łozinski besides points out that both Father Robak and Lord Jim yet die from a bullet, paying the ruin of their already honest intentions for past faults.
This is not the end of Mickiewicz's leads in Conrad's work. This is prof. Julius Kleiner comparing the ballad “Chats” and Conrad’s communicative “Karain” (vide “Diary Literary”, 5.6.1949). Tarnawski, in turn, sees Babalachi from Halban, the vindictive advisor to Wallenrod. The influence of "Grażyna" is little obvious, but Tarnawski sees it in 2 novels. The character of a female who urges a man to act hesitantly performs in “Lord Jim” (Klejnot and Lord Jim) and “Winning” (Lena and Heyst). There are also Mikkiewicz echoes at Conrad's, we'll come back to them on another occasion. However, we can already say that on the pages of Conrad's fresh there is simply a post-romantic spirit of a Pole whose imagination was shaped by works of national romantics. And this is the first contribution of the boy of the root household to Albion literature.
Marek Baterovich
Editorial:
We encourage you to get the book by Marek Baterowicz published by our association - stories about the "war of Jaruzel"- It's coming in the wound.
