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The 1879 celebration of the writer Józef Ignacy Kraszewski in Cracow has been called the “first pan-Polish manifestation of the national spirit.”1 It brought about what some considered a miracle: a coming together of Poles that showed no signs of turning into revolution. This gathering countered stereotypes of the nation still in currency after the Insurrection of 1863–64. Even the foreign press expressed its wonder: “In what . . . lay the attraction that caused this unprecedented unity among all estates , all parties of the nation; what was the magnet that attracted guests from all corners of former Poland and even from America and Australia to this half-forgotten capital of kings; and what kind of talisman saved this holiday . . . from dangerous incitements of misfortune?”2 Political and social unity in celebration; Poles arriving from all over the globe; and disaster averted—all these were accomplishments of the Kraszewski jubilee. The means by which Poles came together to commemorate one of their own illustrate the way such festivities were perceived by many members of the nation : as a new form of nation-building. Those who traveled to Cracow for the festivities had not armed rebellion but more constructive aims in mind. First, however, they needed to overcome several obstacles. The Austrian garrison town of Cracow seemed an unlikely host city for a major national event, particularly when the city’s influential conservatives liked neither Kraszewski nor the idea of public celebrations. Likewise, was there any reason to believe that the partitioning powers—Russia, Germany, and AustriaHungary —would allow Poles a national celebration? A Polish celebration of “mere” cultural significance—the honoring of a writer—could not be written off as an inconsequential event by any of Poland’s partitioners: The reason for a congress could be completely literary, but its character could not be exclusively so. Poland is . . . a question so completely political ONE Polish Phoenix: The Kraszewski Jubilee of 1879  and thorny that in everything that concerns it . . . there must be a political element; and where we . . . saw Kraszewski’s literary jubilee, the Russian and Prussian government had to see a congress of Poles from all three zones.3 Do what they might, Poles, by their very status as national minorities within the three empires, could not put on a show of national unity without turning heads. In many ways, thus, the celebration does seem miraculous : for the degree of national unity that was attained; for the fact that the partitioning powers allowed Poles from their lands to participate in the festivities ; and for the impact this commemoration had on a sleepy corner of Habsburg Austria, now roused from its lethargy and renewed in its commitment to its Polish heritage. The Kraszewski jubilee attests to the emergence of new forces and strategies within the Polish community that cast the honorand, city, and nation in a different light. WHY KRASZEWSKI? The idea of commemorating Kraszewski’s fifty-year career as a writer first occurred to a group of writers and publishers congregating at the residence of Adam P`ug (the pen name of Antoni Pietkiewicz), the editor of K`osy (Sheaves), a popular illustrated weekly, in 1877.4 That the impetus came from Warsaw writers reflects their relative strength as well as their admiration of Kraszewski. Despite the perennial problems of Russian censorship , Warsaw was the publishing metropolis of the Polish nation. The intelligentsia flocked to the last capital of Poland, where numerous journals, newspapers, and publishing houses afforded the chance of gainful employment . Educated Poles associated themselves with different periodicals, the editorial bureaus of which often served as centers of social and cultural life. Kraszewski was no stranger to the Warsaw intelligentsia. Although in exile since the January Insurrection, he continued to play an active role in the intellectual life of the nation. Remembered today mainly for his historical novels, Kraszewski was a cultural jack-of-all-trades. A sometime editor of papers and journals, he also wrote articles for numerous periodicals, exhibited competence in the fields of art history and Polish history, tried his hand at painting, as well as illustrated some of his own books. Kraszewski was a tremendously prolific writer, averaging over five volumes a year; many of his novels were translated into foreign languages, including German, French, Italian, Dutch, Russian, Czech, and Slovak.5 Polish editors constantly sought the right to publish his writings, which, given his émigré status , were often published anonymously or under pseudonyms (the most famous of which was B. Boles...

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