MOCHNACKI, MAURYCY

born Sept. 13, 1804, Bojanice, Galicia [now in Poland] died Dec. 20, 1834, Auxerre, France early Romantic literary critic who passionately advocated Romanticism and was the first Polish critic to define the part literature might play in the spiritual and political life of society. A journalist in Poland, Mochnacki took part in the insurrection of Nov. 29, 1830, against Russian rule, was wounded, and became an exile in France, where he contributed political articles to Pamietnik emigracji polskiej (Memoirs of the Polish migrs). His Powstanie narodu polskiego w latach 18301831 (Insurrection of the Polish Nation in the Years 1830 and 1831) is considered the best eyewitness account of the insurrection. Of his literary articles, O literaturze polskiej wieku XIX (1830; On Polish Literature of the 19th Century), in which he maintains that through literature a nation should recognize its unique characteristics, is considered the most important.