Il dantismo di Józef Ignacy Kraszewski

Both, Dante Alighieri’s ouevre and him as a person, ignited a grand, incessant passion and unflinching interest of Józef Ignacy Kraszewski (1812–1887), which was fueled by a deep sense of awe. Kraszewski’s works thrive on Dantean motifs mediated by the 19th-century culture that was saturated with the latter. Dante’s towering persona reigned over the 19th century, the era during which not only his ouevre but also his person were idolised, often by applying a political key to him. The Polish writer’s narrative and lyrical output bears a palpable residuum of the Divine Comedy – an inexhaustible source of inspiration he continually aluded to by references, quotes, suggestions, and reworking of topics and motifs. After scrutinising literary reminescences of the Divine Comedy recognised in Kraszewski’s works, the article proceeds to focus on reverbarations and echoes traced back to the masterpiece’s part one, in particular Inferno V (the fifth song) and their relationship with the source text. The astounding fate that befell Paolo and Francesca creates a context for the analysis of a narrative poem Paolo. Powieść wenecka (‘Paolo. A Venetian Tale’; 1843) and a novel Pod włoskim niebem (‘Under the Sky of Italy’; 1845).