Słowacki, Juliusz

Słowacki, Juliusz (1809–49), Polish Romantic poet and playwright, who was exiled in 1831 and thereafter lived mainly in Paris. He wrote over 20 plays, of which only one was staged during his lifetime. This was Mazeppa, in a Hungarian version seen in Budapest in 1847. The Polish original was seen in Cracow soon after Słowacki's death, but it was not until 1899 that his finest play, Kordian, written in 1833, was finally produced. This, like the unfinished Horsztyński (written in 1835), shows very clearly the influence of Shakespeare, who first became known to Słowacki in 1831 when on a visit to London he saw Edmund Kean in Richard III. All Słowacki's plays had been seen on the Polish stage by 1905, but it was not until Leon Schiller's rediscovery of the Romantic play-wrights that his plays became part of the permanent repertory. The revival of Kordian by Axer in 1954 marked the end of Socialist Realism in the Polish theatre, and led to further productions of such works as Beniowski in 1971 and Balladyna in 1974. Other important plays by Słowacki are Lilla Weneda, based on an early legend, and two late tragedies, The Silver Dream of Salomé and Samuel Zborowski. His only comedy, a satire on the excesses of Romanticism entitled Fantazy, was written in about 1841 and first performed in 1867. His translation of Calderón's II principe constante was produced by Grotowski's Laboratory Theatre and was seen in London in 1969.