Herodias’ Story, Herstory – Kazimiera Zawistowska’s Poetry, Young Poland, and Female Decadence

Abstract

The contradictory currents that shaped Europe at the turn of the century were reflected in the literary production of the time. The Polish literature of the fin de siècle is an especially interesting case in point: Poland, which had disappeared from the map of Europe completely for 123 years (from 1795 to 1918), was partitioned at that time and its own literary past was blended with cultural influences from Habsburg Austria, the Kingdom of Prussia, and the Russian Empire. As a consequence, a distinctly new Polish literature emerged, one that captured the essence of cosmopolitanism. Maria Podraza-Kwiatkowska refers to the literature produced between 1890-1918 as ‘Młoda Polska’ [Young Poland] and chooses this term because of its neutrality that nevertheless captures the divergent tendencies within it, spanning Symbolism and Expressionism. In contrast to other scholars, Podraza-Kwiatkowska dismisses the terms ‘Decadence’ and ‘Modernism’ because they encompass broader phenomena than literature.