Juliusz Slowacki

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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.

Juliusz Słowacki , 1809-49, Polish writer, one of the foremost Polish romantic poets. A revolutionist, he joined the Polish expatriates in Paris and died there prematurely of tuberculosis. Słowacki was extremely conscious of the great literary traditions, and his works show the influence of other authors. His poetic tragedies deal with the conflict of good and evil, particularly in Polish history, and are reminiscent of the works of Shakespeare. Słowacki's Balladina (1834) and Lilla Weneda (1839) were drawn from early legends. His Horsztynski (1840) is known as the Polish Hamlet. King Spirit (1847), a philosophic poem influenced by Dante's Divine Comedy, reveals his later mystical tendencies and exemplifies his stylistic virtuosity. His epic of manners Beniowski (1841) brought the Don Juan theme to Polish literature. Słowacki is considered the national bard.