Portrait of the Author by Stanisław Wyspiański (1869–1907), retrieved from Wikimedia Commons.
Lucjan Rydel
, 1870 - 1918
Famous poet, playwright and translator, brilliant man of letters and community activist, one of the main figures of the literary movement Young Poland. Published two volumes of poetry, which reveal his admiration for Ancient Greece; several dramas (e.g. Betlejem Polskie [Polish Bethlehem: a nativity play in verse], 1904); and some outstanding translations (e.g. fragments of Homer’s Iliad). His wedding with a farmer’s daughter Jadwiga Mikołajczykówna was the inspiration for Stanisław Wyspiański’s play Wesele [The Wedding], 1901, one of the Polish stage masterpieces. Rydel’s gripping lectures on the culture of Ancient Greece given at the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow and at the Jagiellonian University widely contributed to the revival of interest in Antiquity, which along with the fascination with folklore were the main characteristics of the cultural atmosphere of the Young Poland movement.
Sources:
Józef Dużyk, Droga do Bronowic. Opowieść o Lucjanie Rydlu, Warszawa: Ludowa Spółdzielnia Wydawnicza, 1972.
en.wikipedia.org (accessed: October 5, 2020).
publio.pl (accessed: October 5, 2020).
Bio prepared by Paweł Siechowicz, University of Warsaw, pawelsiechowicz@wp.pl
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