Karolina Proniewska

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The neutrality and factual accuracy of this article are disputed. Please see the relevant discussion on the talk page. (December 2007)

Karolina Proniewska (pronunciation (help·info)) or Karolina Praniauskaitė (1828 - 1859) was a romantic ethnic Samogitian^[1] though some claims Lithuanian^[2][3] poet and translator. She wrote in the Lithuanian^[4][5] and Polish languages.^[6][7][8]

Born in Samogitia, a historical region of Lithuania, then part of the Russian Empire, she is sometimes referred to as a Samogitian Bard. She is remembered largely for her association with Antanas Baranauskas, who became a prominent Lithuanian poet, and one of the classic authors in that language, and whom she persuaded to write in the Lithuanian language.^[6] She is also considered the first woman poet in Lithuanian literature,^[9] she has been author of important translations of poems into Lithuanian.

[edit] Biography

Karolina Anna Proniewska (Karolina Ona Praniauskaitė), a Samogitian noblewoman according to Lithuanian authors,^[10][11] by Polish authors perceived as Polish-Lithuanian noblewoman,^{[citation needed]} was a poet who also wrote in Polish and Lithuanian^[4][5] languages, and was a prolific poet-translator^[9][6] of Lithuanian literature^{[citation needed]}. She was born January 18, 1828 in Padubysys (Padurbice), a small manor near Telšiai,^[9] then part of the Russian Empire, where Polish culture predominated.^[12] Her father, Teofil Proniewski^[6] of Korwin^[13], was an assessor at the local court, while her mother was Eleonora née Dobszewicz. Proniewska started to write poems at the age of seven. Her father died when she was seven and her mother had difficulties supporting both the manor and the family. Three of Karolina's brothers belonged to a close circle of Lithuanian intellectuals who were deeply involved with the growing Lithuanian national movement.^[14] As a girl she suffered from tuberculosis, and her eldest brother forbade her to read any books or write poetry, which he supposed would harm her already poor health. She disobeyed. Soon she moved to Telšiai, where she started working as a teacher. Another of her brothers, Otton Proniewski, the personal secretary to the Bishop of Samogitia Motiejus Valančius,^[10] financed the publication of a book of her poems, which made her regionally famous, partly due to publications in the Warsaw Gazette,^[6] one of the most respected Polish-language newspapers of the time.

Strongly influenced by Adam Mickiewicz's romantic poetry, she is known to have devoted at least one poem to him.^[15] Although her published original works were written in the Polish language, with time she also made several translations of Polish-language classics into Lithuanian. Among the most notable of these translations is Matka węży by Józef Ignacy Kraszewski. The translation is said to have had an unprecedented impact on Lithuanian culture as a fundamental work of Lithuanian high art, ^[16] and to have been much of a much higher quality than her own dilettantish Polish verses.^[17]

In 1855, through her sister Tekla, she met Antanas Baranauskas, a young poet then working as a clerk at the nearby farm in Seda. Proniewska instilled into Baranauskas a love for Lithuanian language and culture^[9], and convinced him to start writing his poems in the Lithuanian language.^[9] The couple started to exchange letters and, with time, poems. Proniewska convinced him to start writing his poems in the Lithuanian language.^[9] Her brother Otton helped Baraunaskas pass his entrance examinations into the Catholic school in Varniai, one of the few venues then open to a member of the lower social strata for attaining an education in 19th century Russia. Baranauskas went on to become a scholar of the Lithuanian language,^[18] and wrote what has been described as one of the greatest works in Lithuanian literature, Anykyšciu šilelis (The Forest of Anykšciai).^[19] He also went on to become a Roman Catholic bishop.

It is commonly accepted that Proniewska had been his friend and patron. However, prior to her death, she requested that all of their letters and her diaries be burned, and little documentation of their relationship has survived.^[20] She died at the age of 31, on May 26, 1859, and was buried at a cemetery in Utena, where she spent the last months of her life. No pictures of her have survived.^[6] Her exact burial place is unknown, but an oak commemorative sculpture at the Utena cemetery bears her name,^[21] as does the Telšiai Public Library.^[22]

[edit] Notes and references

[edit] External links

• (Lithuanian) xxiamzius.lt. Sidabro namai (Silver houses), a 2005 dramatization of the literary friendship between Praniauskaitė and Baranauskas.