GABRIELA ZAPOLSKA

Hello. First of all, let me thank you all for coming here today.

As you can see on the screen, todays topic is Maria Gabriela Stefania KorwinPiotrowska known as Gabriela Zapolska. I would like to tell you something
about her life and work. This topic is connected with my master thesis because
I am writing about forgotten dramas of Zapolska. My presentation will last
about twenty minutes and is divided into three main parts.
o Firstly, I would like to look at Zapolska as a woman
o Then, I will be talking about her as a writer
o And, finally, I will be looking at her as an actress

2
I will begin by explaining several issues associated with biography of Zapolska.
She was born on the 30th of March 1857 in Podhajce, into a family of landed
gentry and received a modest home education. Because of the way she was
taught some people consider her inferior to other better educated writers like

for example Orzeszkowa. (Born on 30th March 1857 in the village of Podhajce).
She was married toa Russian military officer but her relationship was short
and miserable. Supposedly Zapolska overheard an argument between her
husband and her father about value of dowry. After that she has ended that
marriage very quickly. She used her story to write a novel Z pamitnika modej

matki.
Zapolska was an extremely sensitive and emotionally unstable woman. She was
vulnerable to criticism. She has struggled with depression for many years. So in
1888 she reportedly tried to commit a suicide. Next year she left for Paris,
where she established contacts with the artistic communities. There, she played
minor roles in the famous theater Thtre Libre, in which she met such

trends as naturalism.
She had many lovers and she always loved too much. She got married once
again, this time a painter, Stanisaw Janowski. They settled down in LvivLww.
But it wasn't before long that this second marriage also fell apart. She divorced
her second husband in 1910. Zapolska was a storm of emotions. She has played

both on stage and in life. She was considered a woman devoid of morality.
Always restless she died in LvivLww on the 21st of December 1921.

In this part of my presentation, Id like to talk about Zapolska as a writer. So, let
me first give you a brief over view. Zapolska was undoubtedly talented. She was a
very prolific writer. She published stories, novels as well as articles. As an artist
she had many pseudonyms, among the others: of course Zapolska, Joseph

Maskoff, Walery Tomicki.

Many of her early works were published in episodes in the press (mostly in

Przegld Tygodniowy).
Zapolska liked to moralize. She believed that her books could make the world

better. Often like Sienkiewicz she has written to cheer the hearts.
Gabriela Zapolska's works were dominated by naturalism. She was strongly
influenced by Emil Zola's writing. But her naturalism hads a distinct journalistic

and didactic tone.

She was interested in Jewish culture and she branded anti-Semitism (she was
against anti-semitism). Constantly she Constantly returned to the same topics.
Her work was dominated by terms such as: Philistine, philistinism or hypocrisy,

materialism.
As a theatre critic she collaborated with a number of periodicals such as

Tygodnik Powszechny or and Sowo Polskie.

Zapolska created many literary characters, such as those in her best-known
works: Moralno pani Dulskiej, abusia or Sezonowa mio. She had a great

sense of observation. Most of her books are based on real life.

Zapolska loved her work. Obsessively. She has treated her books like they were
her a children and each failure she accepted treated as a mortal blow. Probably

her depression was related to her works.

Nowadays many performing arts are based on her works. We have lots of

adaptations (as you can see on the screen).

So much for point twosecond part.
4

Today Zapolska is best known as a playwright, but it was the stage that was her
real world. All her life she dreamed to be a famous actress as Helena
Modrzejewska. She started out as a travelling actress. She played in Krakow,
LvivLww, Poznan but she never had a successful career. In 1889 Zapolska
moved to Paris in hope to make an artistic career. But there, she
played a small and minor roles, often in boulevard theatres.

Her acting career was hindered by her really difficult character. As I mentioned
earlier she had depression. Maybe it is strange but she played too much. She
could not get rid of pathos so she was unnatural. Of course she was completely
dependent on directors of theatres who controlled her playing. She worked with
Tadeusz Pawlikowski. But it was hard to her because she wanted to be always

independent in her life and in her art.

So in 1902 she created her own theater where she was an actress and a teacher.
But a few months later the theater was closed. I do not know why. Summing up

Zapolska always wanted something more.

Thats all I wanted to say about Gabriela Zapolska.

5
Thank you for your attention. Of course, there are not all the information about

Zapolska but only part of them.

If you have any questions or comments, I'll be happy to answer them now.