''The Frontier'' (Polish: ''Granica'') is a novel written by

Zofia Nałkowska Zofia Nałkowska (, Warsaw, Congress Poland, 10 November 1884 – 17 December 1954, Warsaw) was a Polish prose writer, dramatist, and prolific essayist. She served as the executive member of the prestigious Polish Academy of Literature (1933–1939 ...

, a renowned Polish prose writer, dramatist, and prolific essayist. It tells the story of the life of Zenon Ziembiewicz, his way to the top and success, as well as love affairs and problems. The novel itself combines features of many different genres:

psychological novel In literature, psychological fiction (also psychological realism) is a narrative genre that emphasizes interior characterization and motivation to explore the spiritual, emotional, and mental lives of the characters. The mode of narration exami ...

, sensation novel, realistic prose and detective novel. Originally, the author wanted to title her book “Patterns”, however, she changed her mind and decided on “The Frontier”. The novel has been made into a film twice: in 1938 and 1977. Story is written by means of

analepsis A flashback (sometimes called an analepsis) is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point in the story. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened before the story's primary sequence of eve ...

and the plot often is interjected with scenes that take the narrative back in time from the current point. Written during the interwar period, the novel describes such controversial topics as

abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pre ...

, and the economic and social problems of that time.

Characters

* Zenon Ziembiewicz – the protagonist of the novel, an intellectual, whose career evolves rapidly * Elżbieta Biecka – Zenon's wife, a noble * Justyna Bogutówna – Zenon's lover, comes from deprived home * Walerian Ziembiewicz – Zenon's father, who had numerous lovers during his marriage, and used to be a nobleman * Żancia Ziembiewicz – Zenon's mother * Niewieska – mother of Elżbieta, a divorced woman, still very beautiful, living abroad * Niewieski – Elżbieta's step-father, a very handsome man, minister, financier, politician * Cecylia Kolichowska – aunt of Elżbieta * Adela - Zenon's lover during his time in Paris, dies from tuberculosis after he leaves for Poland * Karol Wabrowski – Zenon's friend who studied with him in Paris, Cecylia's son

Plot

Young Zenon Ziembiewicz, member of a noble, but not very wealthy family, leaves for town and starts studying. There he meets Elżbieta Biecka, a young lady, brought up by her aunt, who comes from a rich family. Zenon travels to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

and starts further study at a university. When he comes back to his hometown, he meets Justyna Bogutówna, a poor and fatherless daughter of a cook. Eventually, a love affair starts between them. Later, without formally breaking up with Justyna, Zenon goes back to town, where he eventually gets engaged to Elżbieta. Justyna, due to her mother's illness, by chance moves to the same tenement house as Zenon. They meet once again and soon become lovers again. Elżbieta knows the truth and leaves him, however, Zenon wins her back, and soon enough they get married. Later Elżbieta becomes pregnant. Despite those circumstances, Zenon wants to help Justyna, who carries his baby, and gives her money for living. Although it was not precisely Zenon's will, Justyna has an abortion and suffers horrible qualms because of what she did. Elżbieta's and Zenon's son is born, and named Walerian after Zenon's father. In the meantime, Zenon's career evolves rapidly - he becomes the town's mayor. Justyna, deeply depressed, decides to commit a crime and pours caustic acid over Zenon. As a result, he becomes blind and later commits suicide.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Frontier, The Polish novels 1935 novels 20th-century Polish novels Novels set in Paris Novels set in Poland