Anxieties about Polish Novel Writing. Orzeszkowa and Reymont – A Gloss on the Phenomenology of Epistolographic Existence

Abstract

This article takes a closer look at the intriguing relationship between Eliza Orzeszkowa and Władysław Reymont. The analysis focuses on the letters exchanged by the older positivist and the already successful young modernist writer. The paper explores issues such as the writers’ everyday lives, their creative processes, the state of Polish novel writing, and the loneliness experienced by Orzeszkowa. Another focal point is the nature of their professional friendship, something previously unknown to the author of Nad Niemnem. The article demonstrates that the two-year-long correspondence between Orzeszkowa and Reymont held great significance and highlights certain characteristics shared by the Nobel laureate and the would-be Nobel laureate, such as their treatment of literature as a shared craft, a mutual concern, and a similarly understood mission.