Osterwa's «Samara Sadness»
Irina Lappo
Maria Curie-Sklodowska University in Lublin (Poland)
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6913-9789
Abstract
The article offers an interpretation of the significance of Juliusz Osterwa’s stay in Samara (July 1915 to February 1916) for his artistic development. This interpretation is based on a reading of personal papers: the Samara Notebook, a letter to Kornel Makuszyński, dated 1915, and Osterwa’s memoirs from the 1930s. The picture of the artist’s time in Samara emerging from these sources is complemented by the findings of Russian historians, reconstructing the fate of Polish refugees during the First World War. The juxtaposition of the image of Samara found in historical works with the image sketched in Osterwa’s notes reveals a mechanism of concealing painful experiences with mental constructs in the artist’s auto-narratives. The article puts forth the hypothesis that Osterwa’s stay in Samara engendered a serious existential crisis, which was overcome in December 1915 thanks to a nativity play produced together with Wincenty Drabik. The Samara sadness allowed Osterwa to distance himself from his star status. The clash with foreignness sharpened his cultural awareness and gave him a new perspective. The Christmas performance enhanced his understanding of the social function of the theatre as a place of overcoming an identity crisis. (Transl. Z. Ziemann)
Keywords:
Juliusz Osterwa, Wincenty Drabik, Samara refugees, Polish theatre 1914-1918, nativity play, theatre of transformation, necroperformanceReferences
Bachtin M. (2005). Lew Tołstoj (B. Żyłko, tłum.). Przestrzenie Teorii, 5, 281-307.
Google Scholar
Frolova, K. (2017). Bezhency Perwoj mirovoj vojny w samarskoj gubiernii (1914–nachalo 1920 gg.). XX vek i Rossiya: obshchestvo, reformy, revolucyii, 5, 75-96.
Google Scholar
K. Frolova, K., & Cherkasova, M. (2017). Samara v 1914–1915 gg. Vospominaniya A. G. Yelshyna. XX vek i Rossiya: obshestvo, reformy, revolyucii, 5, 358-364.
Google Scholar
Guszpit I., & Kosiński D. (2007). Ku Teatrowi Społecznemu. W: J. Osterwa, Antygona”, „Hamlet”, „Tobiasz” dla Teatru Społecznego (I. Guszpit, & D. Kosiński, wyb., red.). Wrocław: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego.
Google Scholar
Hennelowa J., & Szaniawski J. (1956). Juliusz Osterwa. Warszawa: PIW.
Google Scholar
Hramkov, L. V. (2003).Vvedenie v samarskoe kraevedenie. Samara.
Google Scholar
Kurcev, A. N. (1999). Bezhency Pervoj mirovoj vojny v Rossii, „Voprosy istorii, 8, 98-113.
Google Scholar
Osińska K. (2017). Polskie teatry w Moskwie (1915-1918). Pamiętnik Teatralny, 1-2, 67-121.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.36744/pt.1203
Google Scholar
Osterwa J. (1969). List do Kornela Makuszyńskiego, 4 (17) I 1916. Świat, 13, 12-13.
Google Scholar
Osterwa J. (2011). Zeszyt samarski. Performer, 3, 1-59. https://grotowski.net/performer/performer-3/zeszyt-samarski
Google Scholar
Osterwa, J. (1990). Reduta i teatr: Artykuły, wywiady, wspomnienia 1914-1947 (Z. Osiński, red.). Wrocław: Wydawnictwo Wiedza o Kulturze.
Google Scholar
Semenova, E. Y. (2014). Vzaimodejstvie gorozhan i bezhencev na territorii tylovogo goroda v gody Pervoj mirovoj vojny (po materialam Povolzhya), Izvestiya Samarskogo nauchnogo centra Rossijskoj akademii nauk, 3 (2)
Google Scholar
Szczublewski, J. (1973). Żywot Osterwy. Warszawa: PIW.
Google Scholar
Świątkowska, W. (2011). Wschodnie peregrynacje i praktyki Juliusza Osterwy. Performer, 3. https://grotowski.net/performer/performer-3/wschodnie-peregrynacje-i-praktyki-juliusza-osterwy
Google Scholar
Turczyński, B. (2002). Wspomnienie z Samary. Przegląd Pruszkowski, 2, 44–45. http://mazowsze.hist.pl/autor/4768/Boleslaw_Turczynsk i
Google Scholar
Vialtseva, E. N.(2014). Polskie bezhency v Samarskoj gubernii v gody Pervoj mirovoj vojny. XX vek i Rossiya: obshestvo, reformy, revolyucii, 2, 315-321.
Google Scholar
Vialtseva, E. N., & Kutiavin, V. V. (2016) „Being the Pole”: National identity of the Poles in Samara province since the middle of the 19th to the early 20th century, Uchenye Zapiski Kazanskogo Universiteta. Seriya Gumanitarnye Nauki, (158), 3, 699–706. https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=474064
Google Scholar
Authors
Irina LappoMaria Curie-Sklodowska University in Lublin Poland
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6913-9789
Teatrolożka, slawistka, tłumaczka, etnolingwistka. Absolwentka polonistyki Uniwersytetu w Sankt-Petersburgu, doktoryzowała i habilitowała na Uniwersytecie Marii Curie-Skłodowskiej. Zainteresowania naukowe koncentrują wokół zagadnień teorii i historii teatru i dramatu, recepcji teatralnej, etnolingwistyki, teorii i praktyki przekładu. Autorka książek Mrożek à la russe. (2007) oraz Czechow w teatrze polskim (2010). Członek redakcji czasopism „Nowaja Polsza” (2014-2018) i „Etnolingwistyka” (od 2004 r.).
Statistics
Abstract views: 271PDF downloads: 202
License
Copyright (c) 2020 Irina Lappo
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
The author grants a royalty-free nonexclusive license (CC BY 4.0) to use the article in Pamiętnik Teatralny, retains full copyright, and agrees to identify the work as first having been published in Pamiętnik Teatralny should it be published or used again (download licence agreement). By submitting an article the author agrees to make it available under CC BY 4.0 license.
From issue 1/2018 to 3/2022 all articles were published under a Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. During this period the authors granted a royalty-free nonexclusive license (CC BY-ND 4.0) to use their article in Pamiętnik Teatralny, retained full copyright, and agreed to identify the work as first having been published in our journal should it be published or used again.
