The anniversary of 180 years from her birth Maria Konopnitska of Polish poet, writer, translator, journalist, critic and advocate for women’s rights and Polish independencehonors today the Google with a Doodle.
Konopnitska used nicknames, such as Jan Sawa.
Maria was born in Suvauki. Her father, Joseph L. Wassiowski, was a lawyer. She finished school, like other girls of her time, by teaching at home. By the time she was 12, she had already lost her mother, Solastika, who died at the age of 34.
Her first appearance in letters was in 1870 with the poem W zimowy poranek (= “On a winter morning”). However, she became famous after the publication in 1876 of her poem “W górach” (= “In the mountains”), which was praised by the future Nobel Prize winner in Literature Henrik Sienkiewicz. In 1862 Maria married Jarosάaw Konopnicki, with whom they had six children. But the marriage was not harmonious, as her husband disagreed with her preoccupation with letters. In a letter to a friend, Maria described herself as “homeless” and “a bird locked in a cage”. Finally in 1878 she left her husband and moved to Warsaw to engage in writing systematically, taking her children with her. She also traveled abroad, with her first major trip to Italy in 1883. She spent the years from 1890 to 1903 living in other European countries.
Konopnitska’s life has been described as “turbulent” as it included love affairs, deaths and mental illness in the family. He befriended the Polish positivist writer Eliza Orseskova and the painter and activist Maria Dulebianka (1861-1919).
Konopnicka mansion, now a museum, in the village of Żarnowiec (near the southern border of present-day Poland)
In addition to being an active writer, Konopnicka was a social activist, organizing and participating in protests against the oppression of ethnic (mainly Polish) and religious minorities in Prussia. She also became involved in the women’s rights movement.
Her literary work in the 1880s gained wide recognition in Poland. In 1884 he began to write children’s literature, while in 1888 he wrote the first short texts for adults entitled Cztery nowele (= “Four short stories”). Due to the growing popularity of her work, in 1902 some Polish activists decided to reward her by buying her a country mansion. It was bought with money donated by organizations and activists. As Poland was not an independent country at the time and its works were politically displeasing to the Prussian and Russian authorities, a location was chosen in the most tolerant Austrian occupation. In 1903 she was granted the mansion in the village of Å»arnowiec, where she arrived on September 8. He has since spent most summers and springs there, but has continued to travel around Europe in autumn and winter.
Maria Konopnitska died in Lvov (Lviv in present-day Ukraine) at the age of 68. He was buried there, in Lytsakif Cemetery.
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