Polish Literature - Young Poland

Young Poland

The modernist period known as the Young Poland movement in visual arts, literature and music, came into being around 1890, and concluded with the Poland's return to independence. The period was based on two concepts. Its early stage was characterized by a strong aesthetic opposition to the ideals of its own predecessor (promoting organic work in the face of foreign occupation). Artists following this early philosophy of Young Poland believed in decadence, symbolism, conflict between human values and civilization, and the existence of art for art's sake. Prominent authors who followed this trend included Kazimierz Przerwa-Tetmajer, Stanisław Przybyszewski and Jan Kasprowicz. The later ideology emerged in conjunction with the socio-political upheavals across Europe such as the 1905 Revolution against Nicholas II of Russia, the Norwegian independence, the Moroccan Crisis and others. It was a continuation of romanticism, often called neo-romanticism. The artists and writers following this idea covered a large variety of topics: from the sense of personal mission of a Pole exemplified by Stefan Żeromski's prose, through condemnation of social inequality in works by Władysław Reymont and Gabriela Zapolska, to criticism of Polish society and Polish revolutionary history by Stanisław Wyspiański. In 1905 Henryk Sienkiewicz received a Nobel Prize in literature for his patriotic Trilogy inspiring a new sense of hope. Writers of this period include: