58 NARODwhose end is Resurrection.' Elsewhere he defined a nation as 'the internal union
of interrelated races', in other words as a moral, not an ethnic or political com-
munity. The nation is formed of the spirit, of the will, of freedom, whereas the
state is formed of the body or rather from the external things of this world, from
slavery.' By this reckoning, Poland was a nation, whilst Russia was a formalny
stan, a mere 'state of affairs', characterized by the complete divorce between the
people and their rulers. In this way, he united both the 'Messianic' and the
'organic' trends in national life. Norwid's outlook was deeply Christian, and
ultimately optimistic. But his immediate forecast was vague and ambiguous.
Paradoxically, he hinted that the re-creation of a Polish state, might not be
entirely desirable. By becoming as other nations are, with worldly responsibil-
ities to fulfil and sordid compromises to consider, the Poles would lose their
special calling. If the New Jerusalem were actually realized, the Messiah would
become redundant. Perhaps, like many sinners, the Poles were praying for deliv-
erance - but not just yet.^61
Certainly, in Europe as a whole, there was no general expectation that Poland
might be resurrected. In Paris in 1897, when the young Alfred Jarry staged the
play which is often taken to be the starting-point of dramatic surrealism and of
the Theatre of the Absurd, he expressly chose to give Ubu Roi a Polish setting.
As he explained to a bemused audience, 'L'action se passe en Pologne, c'est-a-
dire, nulle part' (The action takes place in Poland, that is to say, Nowhere).^62
For the average educated European, 'Poland' had no more substance than all the
mythical realms of the past from Dipsodie to Camelot. Another persistent leg-
end maintained that a similarly surrealist performance was regularly enacted in
Constantinople with all the high seriousness of traditional ceremony. At the
Court of the Sublime Porte, at the gatherings of the Diplomatic Corps, the chef
de protocol was said to call on His Excellency, the 'Ambassador of Lechistan'
to present himself. An aide would then step forward to announce that the Polish
ambassador presented his compliments and regretted his absence 'owing to tem-
porary indisposition'.^63 Thus the 'Third Day' dawned. And few were ready.
In the period since 1918, the earlier traditions of Polish Nationalism have sur-
vived largely intact. Although an independent Polish state was created, it did not
last long enough to generate many new ideas of lasting importance. Although
the partitioning powers were themselves destroyed, both Germany and Russia
were soon reconstructed in new forms. On the international scene of the twen-
tieth century, the Third Reich attempted to surpass the most expansive designs
of the Central Powers whilst the Soviet Union has achieved the imperial
supremacy in Eastern Europe of which the Tsarist Empire could only dream.
Although the Poles obtained a large measure of control over their internal
affairs, they were still forced to compete within the Second Republic and within
the Soviet Block against rival nations. The cardinal problems of how to resist