DABROWSKA, MARIA

ne Marja Szumska, DAbrowska also spelled Dombrowska born Oct. 6, 1889, Russw, near Kalisz, Pol. died May 19, 1965, Warsaw Polish author and literary critic who is especially known for the modern Polish epic narrative Noce i dnie, 4 vol. (193234; Nights and Days), popularly and critically considered to be one of the best works of Polish prose. Educated in Poland and Belgium and at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland, Dabrowska lived in France and Britain before World War II. In 1909 she began to write articles for Polish newspapers on political and economic reform and on the cooperative movement, subjects that continued to engage her throughout her life. Her first short story, Janek, was published in 1914. She published three collections of short stories during the 1920s, including Ludzie stamtad: Cykl opowiesci (1926; Folks from Over Yonder: A Cycle of Tales), inspired by her lifelong sympathy with the peasantry. A later volume of stories, Gwiazda zaranna (1955; The Morning Star), which contained the much-anthologized story Na wsi wesele (A Village Wedding), was published in English as A Village Wedding, and Other Stories in 1957. During the 1930s Dabrowska's early, journalistic interest in cooperatives took a new form with the publication of the first volume of her classic four-part novel Noce i dnie. Often compared to other acclaimed family sagas (such as Thomas Mann's Buddenbrooks and John Galsworthy's Forsyte Saga), Noce i dnie relates the story of Bogumil and Barbara (both of whom were born of landowning families whose fortunes are declining) from courtship through their marriage and the birth of their children to old age and Bogumil's death (the years 18631914). Each of the major characters is forced to redefine personal values within a changing society. Dabrowska's theme of the human potential for development within uncertain circumstances is subtly and profoundly wrought. In addition to her masterwork and her short stories, Dabrowska wrote two historical plays. She also wrote a number of essays, including a series of critical essays on the Polish-born English author Joseph Conrad, Szkice o Konradzie (1959; Essays on Conrad), and she translated many foreign-language works, notably the diary of the 17th-century Englishman Samuel Pepys, into Polish. She continued to be active in political and social issues throughout her life; in 1964, with 33 other Polish writers and scholars, she signed a letter of protest against Communist censorship. Dabrowska was, despite her political stance, a writer respected by the government as well as the Polish people; after her death she was given a state funeral. Przygody czlowieka myslacego (Adventures of a Thinker), a novel she left unfinished at her death, was published in 1970.