Stanisław Eile
"Nad Niemnem" (The Niemen
Country) by Eliza Orzeszkowa - the
Ideal Positivist Novel
Literary Studies in Poland 6, 57-70
Stanisław Eile
Nad Niemnem ( The Niemen Country) by Eliza
Orzeszkowa — The Ideal Positivist N ovel
Theoretical Postulates
T he leading role o f the novel in the literature o f the Positivist period had to find its justification in norm ative aesthetics. It can be traced in the views o f the m ain representatives o f the period —a tim e when straightfo rw ard u tilitarian slogans no longer sufficed. These views were not entirely new, but the choice o f norm s was closely connected with the objectives o f the Polish m ovem ent and with the specific developm ent o f the Polish novel. If then we agree to leave aside the m ore extrem e philosophical and aesthetic standpoints, w hat em erges as the m ainstream is the tendency to create a closed picture o f the w orld, harm onious, orderly, and delim ited b oth by the structure o f the novel and by the problem s which it discusses. Besides, since “a noble idea” was still an im p o rtan t criterion o f value, even after the restrictions im posed by thesis novels had been overcom e, it is u nderstand able that the concept o f the novel forw arded by Elaubert and the naturalists was not readily accepted. A ntoni Sygietyński had, in 1880, shown the Education sentimentale to be a crucial turning-point and h ad b rought to light its novel conventions, which decried the principles o f the classic French novel, th at o f Balzac in p articular. However, the principles expounded by Sygietyński becam e generally accepted only after the literary group roun d the periodical “ W ędrow iec” (“The R am bler” ) had been form ed.
P iotr C hm ielow ski, the leading critic o f the period, seems to favour the principles put forw ard by T aine, along with Spielhagen's
m ore o r less parallel th e o ry .1 In conform ity with their postulates he stresses the need for a strict com position, based on the prevalence o f a teleological developm ent o f the plot. A ccording to C hm ielow ski, the n a rra to r should not interfere too m uch in the action, as was the case with au th o rs in the past, and he considers th a t a logical p ro gression o f the story as well as the dialogue are m ost im p o rtan t in putting across the ideological and intellectual message o f the novel. L ooked at from this point o f view, the novel resem bles a play, and T ain e’s principle o f the concurrence o f effects, which aim s at bringing the central conflict into resolution, excludes both pure epic description and the loose com p ou nd in g o f plots so ch a racteristic o f b road p an o ram as such as P ru s’ Lalka ( The Doll), whose structure Chm ielow ski could therefore neither u nd erstand nor approve.
S ym ptom atic o f this period is the need for a han d b o o k which would on the one h and teach budding au th o rs all the rules, and on the o ther hand prepare readers for a correct reception o f each literary type, in particu lar the novel. A w are o f this need, T eo d o r Jeske-C hoiński outlined the poetics o f the n o v el.2 His views were certainly shared by m ost o f the critics who were acquainted with T aine’s theory and with Spielhagen’s Beitrage zur Theorie unci Technik
des Romans (1882), which was well-know n and extensively q u o ted by
various literary periodicals. In short, C ho iñ sk i’s conception was th at o f an artistic and at the same tim e realistic novel, however it is not the concept, which determ ines the aesthetics o f this period, bu t the specific way in which these two ideas are u nderstood.
It is interesting to note th at the principles o f tru th and artistry are subservient to the criterion o f logic, which determ ines the intel lectual and structural elem ents o f the novel. F o r tru th is not only a faithful reproduction o f the “real, existing co n d itio n s,” but also — and often this m atters m ost —“artistic verisim ilitude,” th at is, the ability to produce a convincing picture based on a strict, selective sequence o f causes and effects, so characteristic o f Positivist m ethodological determ inism :
1 T a m e s and S p ielh a g en 's as w ell as F lau b ert's th eories are c o n v in c in g ly con trasted in: J. D e t k o . A n to n i S y g ie ty ń sk i. E s te ty k i k r y ty k l A e sth e te a n d C r itic ), W arszaw a 1971. p. 203 seq.
" N a d N iem nem " b y O r ze s zk o w a 59
“T he artist m ust act quickly, his w ork m ust be com pact and clear, an d he ca n n o t take into consideration all the innum erable tran sitio n s from cause to effect. T hus he concentrates on the significant actions o f a given individual and groups them into a series o f causes and effects.” 3
C hoiński considers th at the fundam ental principle determ ining the stru ctu re o f the p lot is the “pyram id fo rm ,” a causal sequence with a w ell-m arked beginning, a m iddle and an end. T his applies no t only to the story as a whole bu t also to the stru ctu re o f each episode. One ca n n o t help reflecting th a t to d a y ’s structural theories, and in p articu lar C laude B rem ond ’s triplex m odel, only describe w hat m ight be called the classic way o f creating the w orld o f the novel.
A n o th er basic rule o f the realistic prose o f this period, the principle o f illusion, was also connected w ith the principle o f a logically unfolding plot, for the idea was to create a “direct,” dram atic picture o f life. This principle was advanced as objective story-telling in a forceful yet not uncom prom ising way. If we look at the problem m ore closely, however, a sceptical attitu d e seems justified where the au th o r is said to be totally disinterested, since the very structure o f the situations and the characters in the novel has its im plications. C hoiński m ade him self quite clear only when he w rote th at it was the characters who had to express the m ain idea o f the novel an d th at he was against any interference on the p art o f the n a rra to r as it w ould destroy the “illusion o f reality” and obscure the clarity o f style. T his sam e principle can be traced in C hm ielow ski’s view on the digressions in Sienkiewicz’s S zkice węglem (Charcoal sketches):
“ F rom the p o int o f view o f style, this passage is faultless: its purpose is to p o rtray a deep and silent grief as op po sed to its m uch m ore shallow and affected expression in a deluge o f w ords. Yet because it is only a rhetorical figure created by the a u th o r and no t bro u g h t o n by the situation, it d isrupts the effect instead o f intensifying it.” 4
T he dom inance o f indirect m ethods o f presenting ideas, an d in
3 Ibidem , p. 228 — 229.
4 P. C h m i e l o w s k i , P ism a k ry ty c zn o lite r a c k ie ( W ritin gs in L ite r a ry C r itic ism ), v o l. 1, W arszaw a 1961, p. 463.
p articular a w ell-ordered sequence o f events, the ad justm en t o f stru c turing techniques to a logical arran gem ent o f causes an d effects, a specific kind o f objectivity and finally the dialogue, which was th ou ght to be o f great im portance — these were the co m p on ents o f a “w ell-com posed” novel, a m ature b u t ra th e r ou t-o f-d ate version o f the classic novel o f Balzac. In E u ropean literature this form was to serve to a certain extent as a basis for new form s developed in the 20th c e n tu ry ,5 b u t at the sam e tim e, tho ug h overcom e by i'vant-garde writers, it has rem ained a m odel o f a p o p u lar idea o f artistic perfection. Even now the fundam ental norm s which determ ine this m odel are referred to not only by readers bu t by those critics who have rem ained faithful to the Positivist trad itio n an d its principles o f harm ony an d perfect p rop ortion s.
In P oland, where the first h alf o f the 19th century p rod uced the
gawęda (yarn) and the loosely structured novels o f K raszew ski, Jeż
and o th er au th o rs o f the 1830—1860 period, the principles o f P osi tivist aesthetics seem to have ra th e r specific foundations. A reaction against the classical conventions o f the novel, as was the case in France, could not be expected here, since in P o land this genre was to m ature only in the era o f Positivism . Im p o rta n t also was the fostering o f the F rench trad itio n as opp osed to the great R ussian novels o f T olstoy an d D ostoevski which m ostly shocked the élite, as did the new “im m o ral” n atu ralist novel, constructed according to ou tlandish tastes. T hose who strove for a “w ell-com posed” novel envisaged an artistic novel, with a view to ennoble this genre which in P oland had rem ained far behind poetry and d ram a. P aul B o urg et’s defence o f Balzac’s m odel bears therefore no resem blance to the situation, since in F rance this attitu d e was clearly conservative.
Orzeszkowa’s Literary Consciousness
O ut o f the three m ost outstan d in g novelists o f the Positivist period, Eliza O rzeszkow a seems to have represented it best, for she rem ained faithful b oth to its social an d philosophical ideals an d to its aesthetics. O powieściach T. T. J e ż a ... (1879), a docum ent o f her literary consciousness, presents views which w ould be readily ap plau
“ N a d N iem n em ” b y O rze szk o w a 61 ed by b oth Chm ielow ski and T a in e .6 O rzeszkow a’s m odel is sim ilar to th a t o f Balzac (Balzac an d Shakespeare were T ain e’s ideals), even though like m ost Positivist critics, with the exception o f C hm ie lowski, she was not an adm irer o f The H uman Comedy. O f course it is not surprising th at B alzac’s novels, from which Z o la ’s new realism originated, and which were always th ought to be im m oral and lack ideological fervour, could n o t be a m odel to O rzeszkow a, for her prose was clearly didactic. H ow ever, it w ould be a m istake to consider th a t her views o n com position expounded in the essay on Jeż derived from H u g o ’s novels even though O rzeszkow a th o ug ht highly o f them . F urtherm ore, this divergence was in no way accidental. When referring to Polish and foreign literary trad itio n s the Positivists were m ost concerned with the ideological and secondly with the intellectual values o f a given w ork, an d they form ulated their aesthetic postulates unaw are o f the historical sources o f these conventions. In fact w hat they esteemed m ost were realistic form s o f narrative. This was w hat perm itted O rzeszkow a to write with em otion a b o u t the patriotic an d intellectual values o f the w orks o f Jeż o r Kraszew ski and to extol the typical and realistic character sketches, even though she would certainly not approve o f Jeż’s confession th at he “purposefully follows a chronological o rd e r and it is very convenient because you d o n ’t have to rack your brains a b o u t the co nstructio n o f the novel.” 7 The im p o rtan t role assigned by O rzeszkow a to the principles disre garded by Jeż was a way o f consciously upgrad ing this un deresti m ated genre. In the introd uctory p arag rap h s o f her essay we find the following em bittered w ords:
“ F rom am on g all intellectuals, the novelist is perhaps best know n to the public, m ost loved and best able to im press b o th hearts and minds, bu t aesthetic and scholarly criticism has alloted to him the lowest grade in the intellectual h ierarchy.” 8
6 A n ex h a u stiv e a n a ly sis o f this essa y is to be fo u n d in M . Ż m i g r o d z k a ' s
O r ze szk o w a , v o l. 1 : M ło d o ść p o z y ty w iz m u ( P o sitiv ism in Its Youth), W arszaw a 1965,
p. 289 seq.
7 Q u o te d from : M . O s t r o w s k a , T. T. J e ż (Z y g m u n t M iłk o w s k i) . Ż y c ie i tw ó r
czość ( H is L ife a n d H is W ork), K ra k ó w 1936, p. 256.
8 E. O r z e s z k o w a , O p o w ieścia ch T. T. J e ża z rzu te m o k a na p o w ie ść w ogóle.
Studium (O n J e ż ’s N o vels with S o m e R e m a rk s on the N o v e l in G eneral), (in:] P olska k r y t y k a lite r a c k a ( 1880 —1 918). M a te r ia ły (P olish L ite r a r y C riticism . T ex ts),
This is why O rzeszkow a is firmly opposed to all sp ontaneity which m akes light o f rational and thoughtful w ork. A ccording to her specific understanding o f the indirect n atu re o f narrative prose, the novelist should com bine the efforts o f a scholar an d an artist; he ou gh t to interpret facts and shape them into a w ork o f art. In the rules which she proposes, O rzeszkow a unites both intellectual and aesthetic elem ents on the level o f the ratio nal logic o f causality and correlated problem s:
“ In a word, the novel m ust not only im itate b u t also create. It im itates that which everyone can see, but in o rd e r to express beauty and tru th , which are not perceived by all, it orders and unites them so that they achieve aesthetic and philosophical harm ony o f tones and shapes, o f resem blances and co ntrasts, o f causes and effects.” 9
Orzeszkow a elaborates these general lines by explaining the two key ideas o f her theory: concept and com position. B oth o f them illustrate well the already m entioned tendency o f Positivist aesthetics to im itate d ram a, considered to be a perfect m odel o f disciplined com position and the best tran sm itter o f the ideological and intellectual message. F urtherm ore, the ideal novel m ust com bine causality and aesthetic regularity with the principle o f realistic o bservation in a harm onious way. T herefore the concept o f the novel will consist o f a dram atic conflict taken from life, though we are told th a t the w riter has to notice and choose m eaningful situations which illustrate m ore general trends, and m ust transform this into a ratio nal and harm onious whole. This observation has to be carried o u t by a well- educated person who is aw are o f certain p attern s in life and who know s what to look for and how to associate facts. O rzeszkow a believes th at a rational attitu d e tow ards life will “cause the substance and the form to em erge tog eth er,” an d the a u th o r will avoid the dangers o f abstract m oralizing on the one hand, and on the o th er — pretty pictures with no philosophical depth, which only “tickle the im agination” and “arouse the senses.”
If we tried to find O rzeszkow a’s place in the sym ptom atic antinom y o f the trad itio n al realistic novel, oscillating between a m i metic observation o f life and its rationalized image, subm itted to certain principles o f interp retatio n o r to ideological postulates, then
"N a d N iem n em ” b y O rze szk o w a 63
O rzeszkow a w ould represent the second tendency. The first, if applied consistently, had to lead to a non-selective narrative and m eant ab an d o n in g logical selection to include a com plex whole, along with its con trad ictio n s and chance elem ents, bu t all this was quite co ntrary to the model suggested by O rzeszkow a: “A keen perception will be o f no o r o f little help if we do not u nd erstan d w hat we perceive and ca n n o t choose o r com b in e.” 10
F rom this p o in t o f view, the role attrib u ted to com position is also sym ptom atic. The way it is supposed to give the concept an artistic form shows quite plainly th at philosophical and aesthetic principles are considered m ore im p o rtan t th an a faithful picture o f the w orld:
“C om position consists in arran ging the elem ents o f the concept, in ab an d o n in g those which m ight disru p t the h arm on y o f the w ork, and harm onizing the o th e rs.” 11
A no th er m ore specific requirem ent form ulated by O rzeszkow a is th a t the value o f the novel should depend o n the “ g radatio n o f effects” and the realism o f the presentation, o n the conflict being typical (T aine’s principle o f the “im portance o f a chosen feature”), and on the fact th at the idea m ay be concluded from the dram a. In effect this is the typical com prom ise w ithin the classic form o f the novel: the starting-po int o f the concept is the observation o f life, co n trolled by the presupposed hierarchy o f the im portance o f p a rti cu lar elem ents, and the com position traces the natu ral course o f events, bu t it m ust follow the rules o f causality and take into account the conventional laws concerning its reception by the readers (rising action). In short, O rzeszkow a’s aim was to instruct and educate while providing an agreable pastim e. A n advocate o f the “well-com po sed ” novel, which was to respect the classic rules o f choice, h arm ony and p ro p o rtio n , she rem ained faithful to the thesis novel b u t retained the language o f artistic prose.
The Apparent Non-Interference
W hen setting o u t to write N ad Niemnem, O rzeszkow a was fully aw are o f her artistic aims, and w hat is m ore, she assum ed th at her
10 Ibidem , p. 129. •i Ibidem , p. 127.
w ork w ould be o u ts ta n d in g .12 A nd indeed this was how co ntem p orary and future critics saw the novel. Even the exacting Stanislaw Brzo- zowski, wary o f highly reputed w orks, has rem arked th at N ad Niemnem was “one o f the m ost beautiful Polish b o o k s” . 13 The novel gained even m ore splendour when it was com pared to M ickiewicz's epic
Pan Tadeusz an d was called a m asterpiece, and even today it is
considered to be O rzeszkow a’s greatest achievem ent. When one recalls the controversial reception o f P ru s’ novel Lalka and o f m any o th er prom inent works, it is natu ral to question why Nad Niemnem was at once said to be a m asterpiece. A nd so it is w orthw hile taking a closer look at the artistic craftsm anship o f its au th or.
Let us begin with the n arratio n . Chm ielow ski thus expressed his enthusiasm :
“The au th o r, following the principle o f the realistic ap pro ach, does not present a trad itio n al, subjective analysis o f the characters, and does not say herself w hat goes on in the m inds o f her heroes, but having chosen the right m om ent she m akes use o f the dialogue an d o f the relations between her characters to show their perso nality.” 14 This m ethod o f w riting was then called “objective” and was consi dered to be one o f the m ain features o f realistic art. But w hat are the nature and the limits o f this m uch com m ended non-interference?
The story opens with the account o f a quasi-observer, who appears to be w atching from a chosen point the su rrou nd in g area and the approaching figures o f M arta and Justyna. This way o f introducing a story was by no m eans new: O rzeszkow a had em ployed it in her earlier w orks, and it was often used by novelists after 1830.15 The point was not to limit the om niscience o f the n arrato r, but to create the illusion o f a direct contact with the characters and the world to which they belonged. T herefore any induction
12 See her letter to L e o p o ld M ey et d ated 19 XI 1866 in: E. O r z e s z k o w a , L isty
zeb ra n e (C o lle c te d L e tte r s ), v ol. 2, W arszaw a 1955, p. 31.
14 S. B r z o z o w s k i , W sp ó łczesn a p o w ie ś ć i k r y ty k a lite ra c k a (T h e C o n te m p o ra ry
N o vel a n d L ite ra ry C ritic ism ), W arszaw a 1971, p. 99.
14 P. C h m i e l o w s k i , P o w ieśc i sp o łe czn e E liz y O r ze s zk o w e j (E. O r z e s z k o w a ’s
S o cia l N ovels), [in:] P ism a k r y ty c zn o lite r a c k ie , v ol. 1, p. 405.
15 See A . M a r t u s z e w s k a , P o z y c ja n a rra to ra w p o w ieścia ch ten den cyjn ych E lizy
O r ze s zk o w e j (T h e P o sitio n o f the N a r ra to r in O r z e s z k o w a ’s Thesis N o vels), G d ań sk
"tWad N iem nem " b y O r ze s zk o w a 65
was only a m atter o f appearance, since not only did the conclusions often go beyond the im plications o f the premisses, b u t they were assum ed to be absolute truths, in no way qualified by the som ew hat unusual position o f the observer. O rzeszkow a’s way o f looking at this m atter was based on the conviction th a t only a person with a th o ro u g h know ledge o f the w orld can m ake pro per use o f his observations.
T he a u th o r’s co n tro l over the story is clearly visible in the in tro d u cto ry dialogue betw een the tw o w om en, which plays the role o f the exposition. It co ntain s no incidental o r chance m aterial — m ost o f the in form ation is significant; it defines the social standing o f the two w om en and provides an indication as to the m ain issue o f the story in so far as it is connected w ith the co n fro n tatio n o f M a rta ’s and Ju sty n a ’s destinies.
T his interplay o f controlled o b serv atio n and discreet generaliza tions, which com plete o r sum u p w hat has been rem arked, is a feature o f the n arrative strategy o f the first two chapters, where the m ain characters o f the novel are introduced. O f course in this way the descriptions, which are static by nature, can be m ade m ore lively, especially since they tend to be very long tow ards the beginning o f the novel, as was usually the case at th a t tim e; an d besides, this has a way o f increasing the suspense. N evertheless, with the exception o f secondary figures, the a u th o r is no t co n ten t with only pointing to the right line o f reasoning, fo r in ch ap ter 3 B enedykt’s character sketch is direct, detailed, a n d exceeds the capacity o f the observer. T herefore the m ethod o f the indirect presentatio n o f features com m ended by C hm ielow ski is only a kind o f introd uctio n, after which the n a rra to r lays the fo u n d a tio n s o f a progressive line o f reasoning. She begins in the trad itio n al way by m aking Benedykt represent the social group o f which he is a m em ber (the significant expression: “he belonged t o . . . ”) an d giving him a share in the vicissitudes o f the 1863 generation, w ith a view to shed light on his present situation by m eans o f a sh o rt outline o f his life story. H ow ever, it m ust be said th a t even here the a u th o r m akes sure th at while characterizing and referring to the past she no t only m akes a display o f reasoning b u t also illustrates her generalizations with a visual presentation.
T he n arratio n is basically a classic exam ple o f a story told by an
om niscient n a rra to r, who proceeds from general laws to p articular cases. This scientific tendency is a t times supplem ented by the desire to m ake the o bservation m ore credible: this is done by lim iting the num ber o f a priori statem ents and m aking room for conjectures and suggestions, thou gh these do no t give the reader m uch freedom o f interpretation.
M otivating the retrospection by reporting the actual tho ugh ts o f the characters is yet an o th er p ro o f o f the fact th a t the au th o r is not consequent in lim iting the om niscience o f the n arrato r. However, even though these th oughts are a t times recorded as a stream o f consciousness, she clearly subjects them to the p redo m in an t m ethod o f generalization and reasoning.
In general term s, the entire n arrativ e o f N ad Niem nem is balanced between keeping up the appearances o f observ atio n and the ever- -present desire to explain its m eaning. So on the one h and the a u th o r has a predilection for indirect characterizatio n by describing m ovem ents, gestures, an d ways o f behaving, an d on the o th er h and her n arratio n is iterative, this allow ing her to associate all the events which have a com m on subject and m otivation, an d to alternate objective inform ation with in terp retatio n . O rzeszkow a is n o t concerned with fleeting em otions b u t w ith steady feelings, typical o f a given person o r in a given situation.
The suprem acy o f the n a rra to r in supplying a m eaning ca n be seen in the verification o f the inform ation co ntained in a behaviourist description such as the follow ing:
H er h a n d s w ere trem b lin g as she lean t a gain st the table and you co u ld a lm o st hear her heart b ea tin g faster than u su al. She w as n o t p reten d ing: she re a lly was very w eak an d upset.
The n a rra to r also speaks u p when he considers the opinions o f the characters in the story to be w rong, using a co u nter-argu m en t to stress the difference betw een w hat they believe to be true and “objective” reality. If necessary, he m ay also pass a direct judgm ent. Finally, his aphorism s serve as an exp lan atio n for individual ex periences.
This same inclination to co n tro l and subject facts to m ore im por ta n t ends can be traced in the dialogues. As Chm ielow ski pointed
" N ad N iem nem " b y O rze szk o w a 67
ou t, they form the basis o f implied, indirect generalizations, and, being num erous, they play an im p o rtan t p art in the narrative strategy as a whole. The way in which the dialogue is w orked into the story as well as its stru cture are both chosen deliberately.
As a general rule, each dialogue is a series o f co ntrasting true statem ents and fallacies, and the a u th o r m akes it quite clear which side is right. A lthough only a few o f the characters have the con stant privilege o f m oralizing, in every discussion one o f the sides has views which are sim ilar to o r identical with those o f the autho r. In additio n to the p re p ara to ry function o f the narratio n , an im po rtant role is played by both the co nstruction o f each u tteran ce and the relation between the two contexts.
In the first case, the sanctioned views are characterized by a factual, inductive line o f reasoning, whose logic prevails over the expressive and self-presentation elem ents. T he rejected views, on the contrary, are based on argum ents which prove w orthless when co nfron ted with the philosophical and m oral norm s o f the novel an d with the re ad er’s assum ed set o f values.
Secondly, following the rules o f the traditional novel, the general principle o f the sem antics o f the dialogue, based on a criss-cross o f several contexts, has been applied in a superficial way. W hile only th at which is said by one o f the speakers is im p o rtan t, the rest serves as a m eans o f presenting the characters, and its role in the co nstruction o f the discussion basically consists in p rovoking counter- -argum ents and m aintaining the principal line o f reasoning, which is in fact a m onologue.
M anipulating the dialogues and m aking them play an im p o rtan t p art in the general sem antic structure o f the novel, provides favourable conditions for m oralizing and for using the ch aracters to com m ent on w hat is happening. Even though the realistic m ethod o f indivi dualization prevents over-sim plifications, one ca n n o t help b ut rem ark th at one o f the m ain characters, W itold K orczyński, assum es too often the role o f the a u th o r’s porte-parole and becom es a stereotyped “positive h e ro .” Even when p artin g with the girl he loves, he prefers to dem onstrate public spirit ra th e r than express his personal feelings, and this o f course is in keeping with the objectives o f the novel.
o f em otive elem ents, such as the sanctification o f w ork in the field s16 and the poetic conception o f n atu re and o f the people o f the N iem en country, or, on the o th er h an d, the use o f suitable disparaging expressions when there is cause for disapproval.
The Logical Structure o f the Novel
We began by characterizing the way the story is told, in order to show th at already in this aspect the non-interference so m uch acclaim ed by O rzeszkow a’s co ntem po raries was in fact seldom observed. However, the real p ro o f o f th e a u th o r having full co ntrol over the ideological and intellectual m essage o f her novel is above all the way in which the w orld o f the novel has been constructed. From this point o f view, Nad N iem nem is a perfect realization o f the a u th o r’s theoretical views concerning the logic o f causality and the harm o nious co rrelatio n o f all the elem ents o f the w orld presented in the novel. O rzeszkow a puts into practice b oth efficiently an d consistently the postulated principle o f dram atizin g the m ain plot, which here is the story o f the love betw een Justy na an d Jan. A n analysis o f her constructing devices shows the a u th o r’s concern th at the unfolding plot should arouse the re ad er’s interest, and also her eagerness to ad apt the distribution o f roles and the developm ent o f the conflict to her ideology.
The structure o f N ad N iem nem is m arked by several tendencies which are characteristic o f the period. A p a rt from the logically m otivated concaten ation o f events an d their correlatio n on the level o f synchronous occurrence, the sym etrical structure o f each o f the three volum es and the preference given to illustrative scenes b o th deserve a m ention. Even though the novel was an am bitious attem p t at creating a social p an o ram a, O rzeszkow a spaced the events o f the novel over a period o f only two m onths and o u t o f this not m ore than ten days (2 — 4 in each volum e) are presented in detail. C onsequently a d ram atized description o f the present, where necessary com pleted by character sketches an d retrospectio n, definitely prevails over the n a rra to r’s accoun t whose role is to interp ret these facts.
16 See J. C i e ś l i k o w s k i , “ N a d N iem nem " E liz y O rze szk o w e j. R o zw a ża n ia n ad
s e m io ty k ą m itó w religijn ych ( O r z e s z k o w a ’s " The N iem en C o u n try .” On the S em io tics o f R eligious M y th s), “P a m iętn ik L iterack i” , 1969, fasc. 2.
N ad N iem nem " b y O rze s zk o w a 69
S ym ptom atic also in this essentially pano ram ic novel is the lack o f episodes no t connected with the m ain story o r with the underplots. The w ord “epic,” used to describe O rzeszkow a’s novel, m ust therefore be looked upon as a m etaphor. Despite the epic descriptions in the novel, which are to m ake the people o f the N iem en country an integral p art o f their surroundings, the principles according to which it is constructed have been subjected to the d ram atic progression o f the plot and to T ain e’s principle o f the unity o f action, although the correlation between the m ain plot and the un derp lots is above all based on the unity o f them e. In this way O rzeszkow a realizes both the aesthetic ideal o f the “w ell-com posed” novel and the ideological am bitions o f the Positivists, by dram atizing the idea, ju st as she herself had postulated.
In the same way the characters form a closed and com pact group. It has already been noticed th at the m ain principle in their co n stru c tion is the recurrence o f m ovem ents, gestures an d words, which cause the ch aracters to becom e im printed on o u r m inds, and this is in conform ity with the rules o f the classic n o v e l.17 However, O rzeszko wa has a specific way o f m erging the ch aracters to form a whole where each elem ent throw s light on the others. This tendency, already present in the tradition al novel, is clearly visible here because o f the technique o f parallels and contrasts. T here are, however, correlations not only between sequences o f events, b ut also between certain sets o f features o f the characters. C orrespondences between these features are stressed far m ore th an relations between the characters, whose existence depends upon being co ntrasted with one another. In this way their qualities become m ore distinct, and th ank s to the evaluating natu re o f these co n fro n tatio n s they can be judged in the light o f the set o f values proposed by the novelist.
This m ethod o f introducing con trasts is also a favourite way o f handling group scenes, where two sets o f ch aracters are placed side by side. A nd ju st as the con trasts serve to m ake certain features stand out, so the resem blances help to create “typical” characters.
The world o f Nad Niemnem is therefore a structu re with clearly m arked co n to u rs and an unequivocal distrib u tio n o f values. The
17 See J. K r z y ż a n o w s k i , E pos O r z e s zk o w e j (O r z e sz k o w a 's E pic), (in:] W k ręg u
a u th o r’s aw areness o f her aim s can be traced not only in the way the story is told and in the superim posed sym bolic com m entary, b u t it also determ ines the whole structure o f the w orld presented in the novel and assures th at it is w ell-ordered and harm onious. An arb itrary ideological attitu d e was therefore prerequisite for the novel to be considered a m asterpiece. N ad Niemnem has rem ained faithful to the classic form o f the genre.
