CZAJKOWSKI Michał - Nemolaka. A Slavic novel. - 1900

Michal Czajkowski (spelled: Czaykowski), a.k.a. Sadyk Pasha of the Jastrzębiec coat of arms (born September 29, 1804 in Halczyniec, died.January 4, 1886 in Borki) - independence activist, writer and poet counted among the Ukrainian school of Polish Romanticism. In his poetic works, Tchaikovsky extolled the elements that ruled the soul of a Cossack, namely the drive for extremes, love of freedom, passionate temperament and a culturally distinct ethic of ahistoricity from the Polish tradition. As a result, Tchaikovsky's poetry was closer to the Byronic spirit than the works of the bards.

Tchaikovsky's émigré historical novels were the prose equivalent of the poetry of the so-called Ukrainian school of Polish Romanticism. They were permeated by Polonophilic tendencies. According to the author, the destiny of Ukrainians is to cooperate with Poland, based on a common historical heritage and the existence of the same enemy, Russia, wishing to subjugate both nations. In Wernyhor, the Homan slaughter is portrayed as the result of Russian manipulation. The sage Wernyhor of the title personifies the Polish-Ukrainian community, trying in vain to oppose the bloody developments. A similar image of the Cossacks is contained in the novel Stefan Czarnecki, set in the Borderlands during the Swedish Deluge. However, the Cossacks' attachment to the Commonwealth is more strongly emphasized, and their attraction to evil is also toned down. The work skips the Chmielnicki rebellion, focusing on the battles against the Swedes and the joint rescue of the dying homeland. The novel's two main theses are unity in struggle as a chance of salvation and the role of the king, who is a symbol of a free homeland. Both of these claims were close to the beliefs of the Hôtel Lambert. Sienkiewicz's later Trilogy continues the themes and eloquence of Tchaikovsky's borderland novels. Tchaikovsky also contributed to the development of Polish novelistic technique. He made extensive use of unexpected plot twists, kidnappings, mysterious and evil-possessed characters, expressive heroes (e.g. the liar Żytkiewicz in Czarnecki, to some extent a protoplast of Zagłoby), local and linguistic color (lexical and syntactic ruthenisms).

Published by F.A. Brockhaus, Leipzig 1900

Format: 185 x 120 mm, 283s.

Hardcover, original, page edges marbled

Very good condition, minor soiling to blocks and pages, decorative signature on title page.