Karolina Proniewska

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Karolina Proniewska grave in Utena Cemetery (exact place of burial is unknown)

Karolina Proniewska (pronunciationⓘ) or Karolina Praniauskaitė (1828–1859) was a romantic Polish[1]-Lithuanian[2] poet and translator, of Samogitian extraction.[3] Born in Samogitia, a historical region of Lithuania, then part of the Russian Empire, she is sometimes referred to as a Samogitian Bard.

She wrote her original works exclusively in Polish[4] and her poetry published in a single tome Piosneczki (Songs, 1858) initially gained much popularity.[5] However, she also translated numerous works by Polish authors into the Lithuanian language, both in prose and in verse.[4] She is considered one of the first women in the history of Lithuanian literature.[5]

Her own poetry and translations, although popular during her lifetime, are today not widely read. She is remembered largely for her association with Antanas Baranauskas, who became a prominent Lithuanian poet, and one of the classic authors in that language, and whom she is said to have persuaded to write in the Lithuanian language.

Life and works

Karolina Anna Proniewska was born into a

Polish culture predominated.[8][9] Her father, Teofil Proniewski[5] of Korwin,[10] was an assessor at the local court, while her mother was Eleonora née Dobszewicz. Proniewska started to write poems at the age of seven.[5]
Her father died when she was seven and her mother had difficulties supporting both the manor and the family.

Antanas Baranauskas

Three of Karolina's brothers belonged to a close circle of Lithuanian intellectuals who were deeply involved with the growing Lithuanian national movement.[11] As a girl she suffered from tuberculosis, and her eldest brother forbade her to read any books or write poetry, which he supposed would harm her already poor health. She disobeyed. Soon she moved to Telšiai, where she started working as a teacher. Another of her brothers, Otton Proniewski, the personal secretary to the Bishop of Samogitia Motiejus Valančius,[6] financed the publication of a book of her poems, which made her regionally famous, partly due to publications in the Gazeta Warszawska,[5] one of the most respected Polish-language newspapers of the time.

Strongly influenced by Adam Mickiewicz's romantic poetry, she is known to have devoted at least one poem to him.[12] Although her published original works were written in the Polish language, with time she also made several translations of Polish-language classics into Lithuanian. Among the most notable of these translations is Matka węży by Józef Ignacy Kraszewski. The translation is said to have had an unprecedented impact on Lithuanian culture as a fundamental work of Lithuanian high art,[13] and to have been much of a much higher quality than her own dilettantish Polish verses.[14]

In 1855, through her sister Tekla, she met

Roman Catholic bishop
.

It is commonly accepted that Proniewska had been his friend and patron. However, prior to her death, she requested that all of their letters and her diaries be burned, and little documentation of their relationship has survived.

Utena, where she spent the last months of her life. No pictures of her have survived.[5] Her exact burial place is unknown, but an oak commemorative sculpture at the Utena cemetery bears her name,[19] as does the Telšiai Public Library.[20]

References

  1. Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy
    . p. 347. Retrieved 2007-10-09.
  2. ^ (in Lithuanian) Kulturos Žemelapis Archived 2007-10-10 at the Wayback Machine. Lithuanian Writer's Union, November 17, 2006.
  3. ISSN 1392-1304
    . Save Karolina laikė žemaite. Translation: Karolina herself identified as Samogitian.
  4. ^ a b Zygmunt Stoberski (1974). Historia literatury litewskiej: zarys (in Polish). Wrocław: Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich. p. 55.
  5. ^
    OCLC 69526313. Archived from the original
    on 2007-07-03.
  6. ^
    ISBN 9955-601-00-0
    .
  7. ^ Dobkevičius, Kazimieras. "Kauno kunigų seminarija – katalikybės ir lietuvybės židinys". xxi Amzius (in Lithuanian). XXI amžius. Retrieved 2007-11-11.
  8. ^
    ISBN 978-83-7002-268-6
    . Retrieved 2007-10-09.
  9. ^ various authors (1970–1978). "Karolina Praniauskaite". Encyclopedia Lituanica. Vol. I–VI. Boston, Mass.: Lithuanian Encyclopedia Press. Retrieved 2007-10-09.
  10. ISBN 83-88595-12-1
    .
  11. ^ Egidijus Aleksandravičius (2003), p.83
  12. ^ various authors (1961). Jerzy Starnawski (ed.). Adam Mickiewicz w poezji polskiej i obcej, 1818-1855-1955 (Adam Mickiewicz in Polish and foreign poetry) (in Polish). Wrocław: Ossolineum. p. 211. Retrieved 2007-10-09.
  13. ISBN 963-9116-42-4
    . Retrieved 2007-10-09.
  14. ISBN 963-9116-42-4
    .
  15. ^ Jackiewicz 1999, p. 132-133.
  16. ^ Antanas Baranauskas. UNESCO, Lithuanian Classic Literature Anthology.
  17. ^ Antanas Baranuskas. Encyclopædia Britannica
  18. ^ Regina Mikšytė (1964). Antano Baranausko kūryba (in Lithuanian). Vilnius: Vaga. pp. 37–50. Retrieved 2007-10-09.
  19. ^ (in Lithuanian) Istorijos paminklai (Historical Monuments) at the Utena Cemetery. Encyclopedia of Utena.
  20. ^ Lithuania in the European Union - Europe information centres Archived 2007-05-20 at the Wayback Machine. Euro.lt

Bibliography

  • Jackiewicz, Mieczysław (1999). Literatura litewska w Polsce w XIX i XX wieku [Lithuanian literature in Poland in the 19th and 20th centuries] (in Polish). Olsztyn: Wydawnictwa Wyższej Szkoły Pedagogicznej w Olsztynie.

External links

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