KRASZEWSKI, JZEF IGNACY

born July 28, 1812, Warsaw, Duchy of Warsaw [now in Poland] died March 19, 1887, Geneva, Switz. pseudonym Bogdan BolesLawita Polish novelist, poet, literary critic, dramatist, historian, and journalist who was the dominant prose writer of Poland's Romantic period. Kraszewski attended the University of Vilna, was imprisoned in 1830 on a charge of conspiracy against the Russian government, and was released in 1832. He lived in Volhynia (now in Ukraine) from 1834 to 1859, dividing his time between writing, farming, and social work. From 1841 he edited, and from 1849 to 1852 edited and published, the Ateneum review. Between 1859 and 1862 he edited the daily Gazeta Codzienna (later Gazeta Polska). Forced to leave Warsaw in January 1863 by Count Aleksander Wielopolski, head of the civil government, whom he had offended in an editorial, Kraszewski settled in Dresden, Germany. In 1883 the German government arrested him on a charge of espionage on behalf of France and in 1884 sentenced him to three and one-half years' imprisonment in the fortress at Magdeburg. Released in 1885, he went to Geneva, where he died. Kraszewski's uneven but enduring works influenced other writers to support Polish nationalism. They fill more than 600 volumes and include 9 novels dealing with serfdom, 7 novels set against the background of Poland under the Saxon kings, and a cycle of 29 novels covering Polish history.