ORKAN, WLADYSLAW

born Nov. 27, 1875, Poreba Wielka, Austria-Hungary [now in Poland] died May 14, 1930, Krakw, Pol. pseudonym of Franciszek Smreczynski Polish poet and writer. Born into a family of poor highlanders, Orkan received an incomplete education. Most of his works are set in the region of his birth and depict the poverty-stricken lives of the highlanders set against a natural landscape of great beauty. In his first volume, Nowele (1898; Short Stories), as well as in Komornicy (1900; Tenant Farmers), Orkan gave a naturalistic account of highlander-peasant life in his native Tatra region. Later, influenced by the literary and political movement of Young Poland, he wrote Wroztokach (1903; In Mountain Valleys) and Drzewiej (1912; In the Old Days); in the first book he rebelled against the exploitation of the poor highlanders by the wealthy farmers, and in the second he presented a poetic story about the first settlers in Podhale. During World War I he volunteered in the Polish legions. Listy ze wsi, 2 vol. (192527; Letters from a Village), contains sociological reflections on Poland's present state and future prospects.