Władysław Stanisław Reymont (; born Rejment; 7 May 1867 – 5 December 1925) was a Polish novelist and the laureate of the 1924 Nobel Prize in Literature. His best-known work is the award-winning four-volume novel '' Chłopi'' (''The Peasants''). Born into an impoverished noble family, Reymont was educated to become a master

tailor A tailor is a person who makes or alters clothing, particularly in men's clothing. The Oxford English Dictionary dates the term to the thirteenth century. History Although clothing construction goes back to prehistory, there is evidence of ...

, but instead worked as a gateman at a railway station and then as an actor in a troupe. His intensive travels and voyages encouraged him to publish short stories, with notions of

literary realism Literary realism is a movement and genre of literature that attempts to represent mundane and ordinary subject-matter in a faithful and straightforward way, avoiding grandiose or exotic subject-matter, exaggerated portrayals, and speculative ele ...

. Reymont's first successful and widely praised novel was '' The Promised Land'' from 1899, which brought attention to the bewildering social inequalities, poverty, conflictive multiculturalism and labour exploitation in the industrial city of

Łódź Łódź is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located south-west of Warsaw. Łódź has a population of 655,279, making it the country's List of cities and towns in Polan ...

(Lodz). The aim of the novel was to extensively emphasize the consequences of extreme

industrialization Industrialisation (British English, UK) American and British English spelling differences, or industrialization (American English, US) is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an i ...

and how it affects

society A society () is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. ...

as a whole. In 1900, Reymont was severely injured in a railway accident, which halted his writing career until 1904 when he published the first part of ''Chłopi''. Władysław Reymont was popular in communist Poland due to his style of writing and the symbolism he used, including

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

concepts, romantic portrayal of the agrarian countryside and toned

criticism Criticism is the construction of a judgement about the negative or positive qualities of someone or something. Criticism can range from impromptu comments to a written detailed response. , ''the act of giving your opinion or judgment about the ...

capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their use for the purpose of obtaining profit. This socioeconomic system has developed historically through several stages and is defined by ...

, all present in literary realism. His work is widely attributed to the Young Poland movement, which featured decadence and literary impressionism.

Surname

Reymont's baptism certificate gives his birth name as Stanisław Władysław Rejment. The change of surname from "Rejment" to "Reymont" was made by the author himself during his publishing debut, as it was supposed to protect him, in the Russian sector of partitioned Poland, from any potential trouble for having already published in Austrian Galicia a work not allowed under the Tsar's censorship. Kazimierz Wyka, an enthusiast of Reymont's work, believes that the alteration could also have been intended to remove any association with the word ''rejmentować'', which in some local Polish dialects means "to swear".

Life

Reymont was born in the village of Kobiele Wielkie, near Radomsko, as one of the nine children of Józef Rejment, an organist. His mother, Antonina Kupczyńska, had a talent for story-telling. She descended from the impoverished Polish nobility from the

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

region. Reymont spent his childhood in Tuszyn, near

, to which his father had moved to work at a wealthier church parish. Reymont was defiantly stubborn; after a few years of education in the local school, he was sent by his father to

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

into the care of his eldest sister and her husband to teach him his vocation. In 1885, after passing his examinations and presenting "a tail-coat, well-made", he was given the title of journeyman tailor, his only formal certificate of education. To his family's annoyance, Reymont did not work a single day as a tailor. Instead, he first ran away to work in a travelling provincial theatre and then returned in the summer to Warsaw for the "garden theatres". Without a penny to his name, he then returned to Tuszyn after a year, and, thanks to his father's connections, he took up employment as a gateman at a railway crossing near

Koluszki Koluszki () is a town, and a major railway junction, in central Poland, in Łódź Voivodeship, about 20 km east of Łódź with a population of 12,776 (2020). The junction in Koluszki serves trains that go from Warsaw to Łódź, Wrocław, Cz ...

for 16 rubles a month. He ran away twice more: in 1888 to Paris and London as a medium with a German spiritualist and then again to join a theatre troupe. After his lack of success (he was not a talented actor), he returned home again. Reymont also stayed for a time in Krosnowa near Lipce and for a time considered joining the Pauline Order in

Częstochowa Częstochowa ( , ) is a city in southern Poland on the Warta with 214,342 inhabitants, making it the thirteenth-largest city in Poland. It is situated in the Silesian Voivodeship. However, Częstochowa is historically part of Lesser Poland, not Si ...

. He also lived in Kołaczkowo, where he bought a mansion.

Work

When his ''Korespondencje'' (''Correspondence'') from Rogów,

and Skierniewice was accepted for publication by ''Głos'' (''The Voice'') in Warsaw in 1892, he returned to Warsaw, with several unpublished short stories and just a few rubles. Reymont visited the editorial offices of newspapers and magazines, and eventually met other writers who became interested in his talent including Świętochowski. In 1894 he went on an eleven-day pilgrimage to

and turned his experience there into a report entitled "Pielgrzymka do Jasnej Góry" (Pilgrimage to the Luminous Mount) published in 1895, and considered his classic example of travel writing. Rejmont sent his short stories to different magazines and, encouraged by good reviews, decided to write novels: ''Komediantka'' (''The Deceiver'') (1895) and ''Fermenty'' (''Ferments'') (1896). No longer poor, he would soon satisfy his passion for travel, visiting Berlin, London, Paris, and Italy. Then, he spent a few months in Łódź collecting material for a new novel ordered by the ''Kurier Codzienny'' (''The Daily Courier'') from Warsaw. The earnings from this book '' Ziemia Obiecana'' (''The Promised Land'') (1899) enabled him to go on his next trip to France where he socialized with other exiled Poles ( Jan Lorentowicz, Żeromski, Przybyszewski and

Lucjan Rydel Lucjan Rydel, also known as Lucjan Antoni Feliks Rydel (17 May 1870 in Kraków – 8 April 1918 in Bronowice Małe), was a Polish playwright and poet from the Young Poland movement. Life Rydel was the son of Lucjan Rydel, a surgeon, ophthalmolog ...

). His earnings did not allow for this kind of life of travel. However, in 1900 he was awarded 40,000 rubles in compensation from the Warsaw-Vienna Railway after an accident in which Reymont was severely injured. During the treatment he was looked after by Aurelia Szacnajder Szabłowska, whom he married in 1902, having first paid for the annulment of her earlier marriage. Thanks to her discipline, he marginally restrained his travel-mania, but never gave up either his stays in France (where he partly wrote ''Chłopi'' between 1901 and 1908) or in Zakopane. Rejmont also journeyed to the United States in 1919 at the (Polish) government's expense. Despite his ambitions to become a landowner, which led to an unsuccessful attempt to manage an estate he bought in 1912 near Sieradz, the life of the land proved not to be for him. He would later buy a mansion in Kołaczkowo near

Poznań Poznań ( ) is a city on the Warta, River Warta in west Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business center and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John's ...

in 1920, but still spent his winters in Warsaw or France.

Nobel Prize

In November 1924 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature over rivals

Thomas Mann Paul Thomas Mann ( , ; ; 6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novell ...

George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from the 188 ...

and

Thomas Hardy Thomas Hardy (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an English novelist and poet. A Literary realism, Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism, including the poetry ...

, after he had been nominated by Anders Österling, member of the Swedish Academy. Public opinion in Poland supported this recognition for Stefan Żeromski, but the prize went to the author of ''Chłopi''. Żeromski was reportedly refused for his allegedly anti-German sentiments. However, Reymont could not take part in the award ceremony in Sweden due to a heart condition. The award and the check for 116,718 Swedish kronor were sent to Reymont in France, where he was being treated. In 1925, somewhat recovered, he went to a farmers' meeting in Wierzchosławice near

, where Wincenty Witos welcomed him as a member of the Polish People's Party "Piast" and praised his writing skills. Soon afterward, Reymont's health deteriorated. He died in Warsaw in December 1925 and was buried in the Powązki Cemetery. The urn holding his heart was laid in a pillar of the Holy Cross Church in Warsaw. Reymont's literary output includes about 30 extensive volumes of prose. There are works of reportage: ''Pielgrzymka do Jasnej Góry'' (''Pilgrimage to Jasna Góra'') (1894), ''Z ziemi chełmskiej'' (''From the Chełm Lands'') (1910 – about the persecutions of the Uniates), ''Z konstytucyjnych dni'' (''From the Days of the Constitution'') (about the revolution of 1905). Also, there are some sketches from the collection ''Za frontem'' (''Beyond the Front'') (1919) and numerous short stories on life in the theatre and the village or on the railway: "Śmierć" ("Death") (1893), "Suka" ("Bitch") (1894), "Przy robocie" ("At Work") and "W porębie" ("In the Clearing") (1895), "Tomek Baran" (1897), "Sprawiedliwie" ("Justly") (1899) and a sketch for a novel ''Marzyciel'' (''Dreamer'') (1908). There are also novels: ''Komediantka'', ''Fermenty'', ''Ziemia obiecana'', ''Chłopi'', ''Wampir'' (''The Vampire'') (1911), which were sceptically received by the critics, and a trilogy written in the years 1911–1917: ''Rok 1794'' (''1794'') (''Ostatni Sejm Rzeczypospolitej'', ''Nil desperandum'' and ''Insurekcja'') (''The Last Parliament of the Commonwealth'', ''Nil desperandum'' and ''Insurrection'').

Major books

Critics admit a number of similarities between Reymont and the Naturalists. They stress that this was not a "borrowed" Naturalism but rather a record of life as experienced by the writer. Moreover, Reymont never formulated an aesthetic of his writing. In that, he resembled other Polish autodidacts such as

Mikołaj Rej Mikołaj Rej or Mikołaj Rey of Nagłowice (4 February 1505 – between 8 September/5 October 1569) was a Polish poet and prose writer of the emerging Renaissance in Poland as it succeeded the Middle Ages in Poland, Middle Ages, as well as a po ...

and

Aleksander Fredro Aleksander Fredro (20 June 1793 – 15 July 1876) was a Polish poet, playwright and Polish authors, author active during Romanticism in Poland, Polish Romanticism in the Partitions of Poland, period of partitions by neighboring empires. His works ...

. With little higher education and inability to read another language, Reymont realized that it was his knowledge of grounded reality, not literary theory, that was his strong suit. His novel ''Komediantka'' paints the drama of a rebellious girl from the provinces who joins a traveling theatre troupe and finds, instead of escape from the mendacity of her native surroundings, a nest of intrigue and sham. In ''Fermenty'', a sequel to ''Komediantka'', the heroine, rescued after a suicide attempt, returns to her family and accepts the burden of existence. Aware that dreams and ideas do not come true, she marries a ''

nouveau riche ; ), new rich, or new money (in contrast to old money; ) is a social class of the rich whose wealth has been acquired within their own generation, rather than by familial inheritance. These people previously had belonged to a lower social cla ...

'' who is in love with her. '' Ziemia Obiecana'' (''The Promised Land''), possibly Reymont's best-known novel, is a social panorama of the city of

during the industrial revolution, full of dramatic detail, presented as an arena of the struggle for survival. In the novel, the city destroys those who accept the rules of the "rat race", as well as those who do not. The moral gangrene equally affects the three main characters, a German, a Jew, and a Pole. This dark vision of cynicism, illustrating the bestial qualities of men and the law of the jungle, where ethics, noble ideas and holy feelings turn against those who believe in them, are, as the author intended, at the same time a denunciation of industrialisation and urbanisation. '' Ziemia Obiecana'' has been translated into at least 15 languages and two film adaptations—one in 1927, directed by A. Węgierski and A. Hertz, the other, in 1975, directed by

Andrzej Wajda Andrzej Witold Wajda (; 6 March 1926 – 9 October 2016) was a Polish film and theatre director. Recipient of an Honorary Oscar, the Palme d'Or, as well as Honorary Golden Lion and Honorary Golden Bear Awards, he was a prominent member of the "P ...

. In ''Chłopi'', Reymont created a more complete and suggestive picture of country life than any other Polish writer. The novel impresses the reader with its authenticity of the material reality, customs, behaviour and spiritual culture of the people. It is authentic and written in the local dialect. Reymont uses dialect in dialogues and in narration, creating a kind of a universal language of Polish peasants. Thanks to this, he presents the colourful reality of the "spoken" culture of the people better than any other author. He set the action in Lipce, a real village which he came to know during his work on the railway near Skierniewice, and restricted the time of events to ten months in the unspecified "now" of the 19th century. It is not history that determines the rhythm of country life, but the "unspecified time" of eternal returns. The composition of the novel astonishes the reader with its strict simplicity and functionality. The titles of the volumes signal a tetralogy in one vegetational cycle, which regulates the eternal and repeatable rhythm of village life. Parallel to that rhythm is a calendar of religion and customs, also repeatable. In such boundaries Reymont placed a colourful country community with sharply drawn individual portraits. The repertoire of human experience and the richness of spiritual life, which can be compared with the repertoire of

Biblical The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) biblical languages ...

books and Greek myths, has no doctrinal ideas or didactic exemplifications. The author does not believe in doctrines, but rather in his knowledge of life, the mentality of the people described, and his sense of reality. It is easy to point to moments of Naturalism (e.g., some erotic elements) or to illustrative motives characteristic of Symbolism. It is equally easy to prove the Realistic values of the novel. None of the "isms" however, would be enough to describe it. The novel was filmed twice (directed by E. Modzelewski in 1922 and by J. Rybkowski in 1973) and has been translated into at least 27 languages.

''Revolt''

Reymont's last book, ''Bunt'' (''Revolt''), serialized in 1922 and published in book form in 1924, describes a revolt by animals which take over their farm in order to introduce "equality". The revolt quickly degenerates into abuse and bloody terror. The story was a metaphor for the

Bolshevik The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...

Revolution of 1917 and was banned from 1945 to 1989 in communist Poland, along with

George Orwell Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950) was an English novelist, poet, essayist, journalist, and critic who wrote under the pen name of George Orwell. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to a ...

's similar novella, ''

Animal Farm ''Animal Farm'' (originally ''Animal Farm: A Fairy Story'') is a satirical allegorical novella, in the form of a beast fable, by George Orwell, first published in England on 17 August 1945. It tells the story of a group of anthropomorphic far ...

'' (published in Britain in 1945). Reymont's novel was reprinted in Poland in 2004.

Works

* ''Pielgrzymka do Jasnej Góry'' (''A Pilgrimage to Jasna Góra'', 1895) * ' (''The Deceiver'', 1896) * ''Fermenty'' (''Ferments'', 1897) * '' Ziemia obiecana'' (''The Promised Land'', 1898) * ''Lili : żałosna idylla (Lily: A Pathetic Idyll 1899)'' * ''Sprawiedliwie (Justly, 1899)'' * ''Na Krawędzi: Opowiadania (On the Edge: Stories, 1907)'' * '' Chłopi'' (''The Peasants'', 1904–1909), Nobel Prize for Literature, 1924 * ''Marzyciel'' (''The Dreamer'', 1910), * '' Rok 1794'' (1794, 1914–1919) ** Part I: ''Ostatni Sejm Rzeczypospolitej'' (''The Last

Sejm The Sejm (), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland (), is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of the Third Polish Republic since the Polish People' ...

of the

Republic A republic, based on the Latin phrase ''res publica'' ('public affair' or 'people's affair'), is a State (polity), state in which Power (social and political), political power rests with the public (people), typically through their Representat ...

'') ** Part II: ''Nil desperandum! '' (''Never Despair!'') ** Part III: ''Insurekcja'' (''The Uprising''), about the Kościuszko Uprising * '' – powieść grozy'' (''The Vampire'', 1911) * ''Przysiega'' (''Oaths'', 1917) * '' Bunt'' (''The Revolt'', 1924)

English translations

* ''The Comédienne (Komediantka)'' translated by Edmund Obecny (1920) * '' The Peasants (Chłopi)'' translated by Michael Henry Dziewicki (1924–1925); translated by Anna Zaranko (2022) * '' The Promised Land (Ziemia obiecana)'' translated by Michael Henry Dziewicki (1927) * ''Polish Folklore Stories'' (1944) * ''Burek The Dog That Followed the Lord Jesus and Other Stories'' (1944) * '' A Pilgrimage to Jasna Góra'' (''Pielgrzymka do Jasnej Góry'') translated by Filip Mazurczak (2020) * '' The Revolt of the Animals'' (''Bunt'') translated by Charles S. Kraszewski (2022)

References

External links

*
Reymont pages at University of Buffalo's Polish Info Center

Władysław Stanislaw Reymont
at Culture.pl *
List of Works
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Reymont, Wladyslaw 1867 births 1925 deaths 19th-century Polish novelists 20th-century Polish novelists Polish male novelists Polish male short story writers Polish Roman Catholics Nobel laureates in Literature Polish cooperative organizers Polish Nobel laureates People from Radomsko Burials at Powązki Cemetery 19th-century Polish male writers Recipients of the Order of Polonia Restituta