C.K. NORWID - On Juliusz Słowacki. 1861.

NORWID Cyprian Kamil - On Juliusz Słowacki in six public sittings (with the addition of a dissection of Balladyna) 1860. Paris 1861. druk. L. Martinet. 16d, pp. [4], 90. broch.
Spine taped with paper, corner of front cover creased, two small losses to front cover completed, otherwise good condition. Two stamps. rebound several times, notes and inventory stickers. The first attempt at an in-depth look at Słowacki's work. Norwid "gave six lectures at the Polish Reading Room in Paris between April 7 and May 12, 1860, 'On the Works and Position of Juliusz Słowacki on the National Question,' which were in response to Julian Klaczka's lectures on Adam Mickiewicz and the critic's dissertation entitled 'Polish Art.' Norwid's readings - an infrequent occurrence in his career - were well received, and were subsequently published in 1861 under the title 'On Juliusz Słowacki in Six Public Sittings.' The original content of the sittings was then expanded to include a dissection of 'Balladyna' [...]. The lectures pose [...] problems [...], resulting from their peculiar form. Until the middle of the fourth 'lesson', Slovak does not appear in them at all. Norwid takes up a wide variety of topics, constantly deviates from the main thread, weaves numerous digressions into his reflections. His interpretations of the poet's works, on the other hand, are very arbitrary, and certainly cannot serve as a tool to better understand these works. All this makes the lectures seem to talk more about Norwid himself than about their main character" (A. Musiałowicz "Norwid reads Słowacki" on the pages of Krytyka Polityczna).
At the beginning there is a "Contents" (that is, a table of contents), followed by 6 lessons. Rare.