36 NAROD
works included a biography of Wielopolski and the full-scale Obzor istorii pol-
skoi literatury (Survey of the History of Polish Literature, 1880). His concept of
nationality, first formulated in 1872, remained clear and unequivocal to the end
of his life. 'A historical nationality, severed from the state which had been its
cradle, can still have a full right to exist...', he wrote; for 'nationality is a moral
treasure, painstakingly amassed by a nation and destined for the welfare of all
humanity.'^36
The literature of Conciliation had no simple programme. Its one common
denominator lay in the widely felt revulsion from conspiratorial politics. Thus,
while seeking to dispel the mystique of nationality fostered by the Romantics
and Messianists, it strove to 'normalize' and to 'modernize' the Polish arts: that
is, to replace the one-sided obsession with the Polish cause by a full range of gen-
res and interests, as exhibited in the cultural life of other European nations. It
was as much concerned with the Fine Arts as with national politics. Its chief
exponent was Aleksander Glowacki (1847—1912), the 'Polish Dickens', better
known by his pen-name of Boleslaw Prus. His career spanned the Risings of
1863-4 and of 1905-6, and was deeply affected by them. In the former, he was
wounded and arrested; and he reacted sharply against the latter. His early works
avoided overtly political themes, concentrating instead on psychological obser-
vation and social criticism. Wies i miasto (Town and Country, 1875), and
Anielka (1880) — a powerful attack on the land-owning class - were written in
optimistic mood, whilst he was still searching for a more definite 'positivist' pro-
gramme. Yet the older he grew, the more sombre and the more political he
became. His masterwork, Lalka (The Doll, 1890), contains the clear message
that proud people who, like its central figure, Wokulski, succumb to over-lofty
ambitions, will suffer a fall. Faraon (Pharaoh, 1897) is a study of power, with
the scenario of Ancient Egypt thinly disguising allusions to contemporary
Russia. Dzieci (Children, 1908) is a purely political study of revolutionary con-
spirators.
The posture which Prus adopted towards the end of his career was one of pro-
found dismay, not to say cynicism. He had described the evils of capitalism in
convincing detail. Yet he criticized the socialists and progressives no less.
Poland's international position was all but hopeless. Wilhelmian Germany was
'a fortress of bandits and cut-throats', where 'the new chemistry' was to be used
to poison inconvenient citizens, and 'where very unpleasant concoctions are
being prepared'; it was 'born in blood, lives on blood, and may one day drown
in blood'. Russia, on the other hand, offered only minimal prospects for com-
promise. Prus judged Polish independence to be a harmful daydream which
could only end tragically. Autonomy was to be the absolute limit of all distant
national aspirations. 'The Day of Freedom!... The Day of Freedom! ... If we
have to play with metaphors, I myself cannot see any daylight at all,' he wrote,
'It's barely dawn, and a bloody one at that... and the Devil only knows what
sort of Day will follow.' A century of insurrectionary nationalism had produced
nothing of value.