{"id":22575,"date":"2026-11-02T19:15:11","date_gmt":"2026-11-02T18:15:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/?p=22575"},"modified":"2026-11-02T19:38:18","modified_gmt":"2026-11-02T18:38:18","slug":"maria-dabrowska-with-bill-johnston-encounters-with-polish-and-ukrainian-literature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/2026\/11\/02\/maria-dabrowska-with-bill-johnston-encounters-with-polish-and-ukrainian-literature\/","title":{"rendered":"Maria D\u0105browska with Bill Johnston\u00a0\u2013 Encounters with Polish and Ukrainian Literature"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/EUoYgU7NO48\">S6E11<\/a>\u00a0and all video recordings are available on\u00a0our\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@polishculturalinstituteinn5072\">YouTube<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:100px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Encounters with Polish and Ukrainian Literature<\/strong>&nbsp;is a video series for anyone interested in literature and the culture of books and reading. Each month, host&nbsp;<strong>David A. Goldfarb<\/strong>&nbsp;will present a new topic in conversation with an expert on that author or book or movement in Polish literature.&nbsp;<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/encounters-with-polish-literature\">More about the Encounters with Polish and Ukrainian Literature series<\/a><\/strong>&nbsp;and the timeline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Maria D\u0105browska <\/strong>(1889-1965), <em>n\u00e9e<\/em> Szumska, was born in Russ\u00f3w near Kalisz to a family of impoverished landowners, much like Nechcic family who the main characters of her epic family novel, <em>The Nights and the Days <\/em>(<em>Noce i dnie<\/em>, 1932-34). She studied biology in Switzerland, also like the Niechcic\u2019s daughter, Agnieszka, and Belgium, continuing in Belgium in the social sciences and economics. While studying abroad, she became engaged with progressive social movements such as cooperativism, to which Agnieszka is similarly attracted. She also wrote children\u2019s stories, translated Samuel Pepys\u2019 <em>Diary<\/em>, and kept a diary of her own, which is viewed as a rich guide to her life and to her intellectual milieu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>The Nights and the Days<\/em> might be seen, at least structurally, as a culmination of nineteenth-century realism, in contrast to the novels of D\u0105browska\u2019s more radical contemporaries, Gombrowicz and Witkacy. D\u0105browska had a direct familiarity with the dialect and folklore that appears in her work, and her language is clear and efficient, conveying a sense of truth and authenticity. The main characters of the Niechcic family are outlined at the beginning, and their biographies unfold chronologically, beginning after the January Uprising of 1863 until the beginning of the First World War. Her characters are psychologically complex and are represented in such a way that the reader can sympathize with each character as they are revealed, even as they may hold opposing points of view to each other. The mother, Barbara, is a dreamer, always wondering if life would be better in town or in the country, or if she had married someone else. Her husband, Bogumi\u0142, is practical, always engaged in the duties of the farm and the needs of the workers he supervises, but he is not immune to moments of doubt about his path in life, managing an estate for absentee landlords.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In this episode we focus on D\u0105browska\u2019s masterwork, <em>The Nights and the Days<\/em>, which Johnston sees as one of the most important works of Polish literature, right next to the national epic, <em>Pan Tadeusz<\/em>, by Adam Mickiewicz. We discuss the work\u2019s place in the context of Realism in Poland during an era of avantgarde modernisms and experimentation in the novel between the two world wars. We look at the autobiographical aspects of D\u0105browska\u2019s story, and Johnston makes a case for reading it more as a carefully crafted artistic fiction than as a thinly fictionalized memoir. We also consider issues in the translation of the work and problems for the translator in dedicating years to a <em>roman-fleuve <\/em>of four substantial volumes without a contract up front.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Maria D\u0105browska in English translation and additional resources:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>D\u0105browska, Maria. <em>The Nights and the Days<\/em>. Tr. Bill Johnston. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>D\u0105browska, Maria. <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.abebooks.com\/Polish-Christmas-Translated-Dorota-Debska-Daunt-afterword\/31380142280\/bd\">A Polish Christmas<\/a><\/em>. Tr. Dorota Debska-Daunt, afterword by Dr Jerzy Szumski, and wood engravings by Chris Daunt. United Kingdom: Society of Wood Engravers, 2001.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>D\u0105browska, Maria. <em>\u201cA Village Wedding\u201d and other stories<\/em>. Warsaw: Polonia Pub. House, 1957. (Mentioned in OCLC WorldCat with no known libraries shown as owning a copy, but included here for reference. Some libraries may have it in catalogues that have not been digitized and incorporated into WorldCat. Copies may be available for purchase through the internet from used bookstores in Poland. Search for the author and title in your favorite search engine and look for an <em>antykwariat<\/em> with a copy for sale.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Folejewski, Zbigniew. <em>Maria D\u0105browska<\/em>. Twayne\u2019s World Authors Series 16. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1967. (Try your nearest university or research library or interlibrary loan.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2026\/11\/BJ-photo_sq-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-22578\" style=\"width:378px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2026\/11\/BJ-photo_sq-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2026\/11\/BJ-photo_sq-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2026\/11\/BJ-photo_sq-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2026\/11\/BJ-photo_sq-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2026\/11\/BJ-photo_sq-1536x1536.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2026\/11\/BJ-photo_sq-2048x2048.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Bill Johnston<\/strong> is currently Michael Henry Heim Chair in Central and East European Letters at Indiana University. His most recent translations include Wies\u0142aw My\u015bliwski\u2019s <em>Needle\u2019s Eye<\/em> (Archipelago Books, 2025), a <em>Financial Times<\/em> Best Book of the Year, and, from the French, <em>Great Fear on the Mountain<\/em> by Swiss modernist Charles Ferdinand Ramuz (Archipelago Books, 2024), a finalist for the PEN Translation Prize. His honors include the National Translation Award in Poetry, for his rendering of Adam Mickiewicz\u2019s verse epic <em>Pan Tadeusz<\/em>; the Best Translated Book Award; the PEN Translation Prize; and a Guggenheim Fellowship. He has also received the Transatlantyk Award from the Polish Book Institute and has won the Found in Translation Award twice from the Polish Book Institute, Polish Cultural Institute New York, and Polish Cultural Institute London for his translations of Tadeusz R\u00f3\u017cewicz and Tomasz R\u00f3\u017cycki.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<p>David A. Goldfarb, Host &amp; Producer<br>Bartek Remisko, Curator and Executive Producer<br>Natalia Iyudin, Produce<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-vertical is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-8cf370e7 wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-vertical is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-8cf370e7 wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-vertical is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-8cf370e7 wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<p>Image:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Maria D\u0105browska 1914 \u00a9 photo by Marian Fuks<br>Bill Johnston \u00a9 photo courtesy of Bill Johnston<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:31px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image is-resized\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"972\" height=\"472\" src=\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/05\/Screen-Shot-2023-05-10-at-10.12.09-AM.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-8461\" srcset=\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/05\/Screen-Shot-2023-05-10-at-10.12.09-AM.png 972w, https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/05\/Screen-Shot-2023-05-10-at-10.12.09-AM-300x146.png 300w, https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/05\/Screen-Shot-2023-05-10-at-10.12.09-AM-768x373.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 972px) 100vw, 972px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"224\" src=\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2024\/02\/NTSH-A_LOGO_TRANSPARENT-1024x224.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-10747\" style=\"width:388px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2024\/02\/NTSH-A_LOGO_TRANSPARENT-1024x224.png 1024w, https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2024\/02\/NTSH-A_LOGO_TRANSPARENT-300x66.png 300w, https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2024\/02\/NTSH-A_LOGO_TRANSPARENT-768x168.png 768w, https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2024\/02\/NTSH-A_LOGO_TRANSPARENT-1536x336.png 1536w, https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2024\/02\/NTSH-A_LOGO_TRANSPARENT.png 1614w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>S6E11\u00a0and all video recordings are available on\u00a0our\u00a0YouTube. Encounters with Polish and Ukrainian Literature&nbsp;is a video series for anyone interested in literature and the culture of books and reading. Each month, host&nbsp;David A. Goldfarb&nbsp;will present a new topic in conversation with an expert on that author or book or movement in Polish literature.&nbsp;More about the Encounters [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":202,"featured_media":22581,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","category-literature"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Maria D\u0105browska with Bill Johnston\u00a0\u2013 Encounters with Polish and Ukrainian Literature - Instytut Polski w Nowym Jorku<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/2026\/11\/02\/maria-dabrowska-with-bill-johnston-encounters-with-polish-and-ukrainian-literature\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"pl_PL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Maria D\u0105browska with Bill Johnston\u00a0\u2013 Encounters with Polish and Ukrainian Literature - Instytut Polski w Nowym Jorku\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"S6E11\u00a0and all video recordings are available on\u00a0our\u00a0YouTube. Encounters with Polish and Ukrainian Literature&nbsp;is a video series for anyone interested in literature and the culture of books and reading. Each month, host&nbsp;David A. Goldfarb&nbsp;will present a new topic in conversation with an expert on that author or book or movement in Polish literature.&nbsp;More about the Encounters [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/2026\/11\/02\/maria-dabrowska-with-bill-johnston-encounters-with-polish-and-ukrainian-literature\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Instytut Polski w Nowym Jorku\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-11-02T18:15:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-11-02T18:38:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2026\/11\/Encounters-Visual-Identity-SQUARE-4-1024x1024.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"stypulkowskaa\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Napisane przez\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"stypulkowskaa\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Szacowany czas czytania\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minut\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"event\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/2026\/11\/02\/maria-dabrowska-with-bill-johnston-encounters-with-polish-and-ukrainian-literature\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/2026\/11\/02\/maria-dabrowska-with-bill-johnston-encounters-with-polish-and-ukrainian-literature\/\",\"name\":\"Maria D\u0105browska with Bill Johnston\u00a0\u2013 Encounters with Polish and Ukrainian Literature\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/2026\/11\/02\/maria-dabrowska-with-bill-johnston-encounters-with-polish-and-ukrainian-literature\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":[\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2026\/11\/Encounters-Visual-Identity-SQUARE-4.png\",\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2026\/11\/Encounters-Visual-Identity-SQUARE-4-300x300.png\",\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2026\/11\/Encounters-Visual-Identity-SQUARE-4-1024x1024.png\",\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2026\/11\/Encounters-Visual-Identity-SQUARE-4.png\"],\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2026\/11\/Encounters-Visual-Identity-SQUARE-4.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-11-02T18:15:11+01:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-11-02T18:38:18+01:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/#\/schema\/person\/c732b2695ee92026d080eec35471c7f1\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/2026\/11\/02\/maria-dabrowska-with-bill-johnston-encounters-with-polish-and-ukrainian-literature\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"pl-PL\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/2026\/11\/02\/maria-dabrowska-with-bill-johnston-encounters-with-polish-and-ukrainian-literature\/\"]}],\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"startDate\":\"2026-11-04\",\"endDate\":\"2026-12-01\",\"eventStatus\":\"EventScheduled\",\"eventAttendanceMode\":\"OfflineEventAttendanceMode\",\"location\":{\"@type\":\"place\",\"name\":\"\",\"address\":\"\",\"geo\":{\"@type\":\"GeoCoordinates\",\"latitude\":\"\",\"longitude\":\"\"}},\"description\":\"S6E11\u00a0and all video recordings are available on\u00a0our\u00a0YouTube.\\nEncounters with Polish and Ukrainian Literature is a video series for anyone interested in literature and the culture of books and reading. Each month, host David A. Goldfarb will present a new topic in conversation with an expert on that author or book or movement in Polish literature. More about the Encounters with Polish and Ukrainian Literature series and the timeline.\\nMaria D\u0105browska (1889-1965), n\u00e9e Szumska, was born in Russ\u00f3w near Kalisz to a family of impoverished landowners, much like Nechcic family who the main characters of her epic family novel, The Nights and the Days (Noce i dnie, 1932-34). She studied biology in Switzerland, also like the Niechcic\u2019s daughter, Agnieszka, and Belgium, continuing in Belgium in the social sciences and economics. While studying abroad, she became engaged with progressive social movements such as cooperativism, to which Agnieszka is similarly attracted. She also wrote children\u2019s stories, translated Samuel Pepys\u2019 Diary, and kept a diary of her own, which is viewed as a rich guide to her life and to her intellectual milieu.\\nThe Nights and the Days might be seen, at least structurally, as a culmination of nineteenth-century realism, in contrast to the novels of D\u0105browska\u2019s more radical contemporaries, Gombrowicz and Witkacy. D\u0105browska had a direct familiarity with the dialect and folklore that appears in her work, and her language is clear and efficient, conveying a sense of truth and authenticity. The main characters of the Niechcic family are outlined at the beginning, and their biographies unfold chronologically, beginning after the January Uprising of 1863 until the beginning of the First World War. Her characters are psychologically complex and are represented in such a way that the reader can sympathize with each character as they are revealed, even as they may hold opposing points of view to each other. The mother, Barbara, is a dreamer, always wondering if life would be better in town or in the country, or if she had married someone else. Her husband, Bogumi\u0142, is practical, always engaged in the duties of the farm and the needs of the workers he supervises, but he is not immune to moments of doubt about his path in life, managing an estate for absentee landlords.\\nIn this episode we focus on D\u0105browska\u2019s masterwork, The Nights and the Days, which Johnston sees as one of the most important works of Polish literature, right next to the national epic, Pan Tadeusz, by Adam Mickiewicz. We discuss the work\u2019s place in the context of Realism in Poland during an era of avantgarde modernisms and experimentation in the novel between the two world wars. We look at the autobiographical aspects of D\u0105browska\u2019s story, and Johnston makes a case for reading it more as a carefully crafted artistic fiction than as a thinly fictionalized memoir. We also consider issues in the translation of the work and problems for the translator in dedicating years to a roman-fleuve of four substantial volumes without a contract up front.\\nMaria D\u0105browska in English translation and additional resources:\\nD\u0105browska, Maria. The Nights and the Days. Tr. Bill Johnston. \\nD\u0105browska, Maria. A Polish Christmas. Tr. Dorota Debska-Daunt, afterword by Dr Jerzy Szumski, and wood engravings by Chris Daunt. United Kingdom: Society of Wood Engravers, 2001.\\nD\u0105browska, Maria. \u201cA Village Wedding\u201d and other stories. Warsaw: Polonia Pub. House, 1957. (Mentioned in OCLC WorldCat with no known libraries shown as owning a copy, but included here for reference. Some libraries may have it in catalogues that have not been digitized and incorporated into WorldCat. Copies may be available for purchase through the internet from used bookstores in Poland. Search for the author and title in your favorite search engine and look for an antykwariat with a copy for sale.)\\nFolejewski, Zbigniew. Maria D\u0105browska. Twayne\u2019s World Authors Series 16. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1967. (Try your nearest university or research library or interlibrary loan.)\\nBill Johnston is currently Michael Henry Heim Chair in Central and East European Letters at Indiana University. His most recent translations include Wies\u0142aw My\u015bliwski\u2019s Needle\u2019s Eye (Archipelago Books, 2025), a Financial Times Best Book of the Year, and, from the French, Great Fear on the Mountain by Swiss modernist Charles Ferdinand Ramuz (Archipelago Books, 2024), a finalist for the PEN Translation Prize. His honors include the National Translation Award in Poetry, for his rendering of Adam Mickiewicz\u2019s verse epic Pan Tadeusz; the Best Translated Book Award; the PEN Translation Prize; and a Guggenheim Fellowship. He has also received the Transatlantyk Award from the Polish Book Institute and has won the Found in Translation Award twice from the Polish Book Institute, Polish Cultural Institute New York, and Polish Cultural Institute London for his translations of Tadeusz R\u00f3\u017cewicz and Tomasz R\u00f3\u017cycki.\\nDavid A. Goldfarb, Host &amp; ProducerBartek Remisko, Curator and Executive ProducerNatalia Iyudin, Produce\\nImage:\\nMaria D\u0105browska 1914 \u00a9 photo by Marian FuksBill Johnston \u00a9 photo courtesy of Bill Johnston\",\"offers\":{\"@type\":\"Offer\"}},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"pl-PL\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/2026\/11\/02\/maria-dabrowska-with-bill-johnston-encounters-with-polish-and-ukrainian-literature\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2026\/11\/Encounters-Visual-Identity-SQUARE-4.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2026\/11\/Encounters-Visual-Identity-SQUARE-4.png\",\"width\":2025,\"height\":2025},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/2026\/11\/02\/maria-dabrowska-with-bill-johnston-encounters-with-polish-and-ukrainian-literature\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Maria D\u0105browska with Bill Johnston\u00a0\u2013 Encounters with Polish and Ukrainian Literature\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/\",\"name\":\"Instytut Polski w Nowym Jorku\",\"description\":\"Instytuty Polskie\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"pl-PL\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/#\/schema\/person\/c732b2695ee92026d080eec35471c7f1\",\"name\":\"stypulkowskaa\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"pl-PL\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a28cee30023e60aaadd7265c034712e0bff48f0104612319d472cc274e96a303?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a28cee30023e60aaadd7265c034712e0bff48f0104612319d472cc274e96a303?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"stypulkowskaa\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/author\/stypulkowskaa-2\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Maria D\u0105browska with Bill Johnston\u00a0\u2013 Encounters with Polish and Ukrainian Literature - Instytut Polski w Nowym Jorku","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/2026\/11\/02\/maria-dabrowska-with-bill-johnston-encounters-with-polish-and-ukrainian-literature\/","og_locale":"pl_PL","og_type":"article","og_title":"Maria D\u0105browska with Bill Johnston\u00a0\u2013 Encounters with Polish and Ukrainian Literature - Instytut Polski w Nowym Jorku","og_description":"S6E11\u00a0and all video recordings are available on\u00a0our\u00a0YouTube. 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Each month, host David A. Goldfarb will present a new topic in conversation with an expert on that author or book or movement in Polish literature. More about the Encounters with Polish and Ukrainian Literature series and the timeline.\nMaria D\u0105browska (1889-1965), n\u00e9e Szumska, was born in Russ\u00f3w near Kalisz to a family of impoverished landowners, much like Nechcic family who the main characters of her epic family novel, The Nights and the Days (Noce i dnie, 1932-34). She studied biology in Switzerland, also like the Niechcic\u2019s daughter, Agnieszka, and Belgium, continuing in Belgium in the social sciences and economics. While studying abroad, she became engaged with progressive social movements such as cooperativism, to which Agnieszka is similarly attracted. She also wrote children\u2019s stories, translated Samuel Pepys\u2019 Diary, and kept a diary of her own, which is viewed as a rich guide to her life and to her intellectual milieu.\nThe Nights and the Days might be seen, at least structurally, as a culmination of nineteenth-century realism, in contrast to the novels of D\u0105browska\u2019s more radical contemporaries, Gombrowicz and Witkacy. D\u0105browska had a direct familiarity with the dialect and folklore that appears in her work, and her language is clear and efficient, conveying a sense of truth and authenticity. The main characters of the Niechcic family are outlined at the beginning, and their biographies unfold chronologically, beginning after the January Uprising of 1863 until the beginning of the First World War. Her characters are psychologically complex and are represented in such a way that the reader can sympathize with each character as they are revealed, even as they may hold opposing points of view to each other. The mother, Barbara, is a dreamer, always wondering if life would be better in town or in the country, or if she had married someone else. Her husband, Bogumi\u0142, is practical, always engaged in the duties of the farm and the needs of the workers he supervises, but he is not immune to moments of doubt about his path in life, managing an estate for absentee landlords.\nIn this episode we focus on D\u0105browska\u2019s masterwork, The Nights and the Days, which Johnston sees as one of the most important works of Polish literature, right next to the national epic, Pan Tadeusz, by Adam Mickiewicz. We discuss the work\u2019s place in the context of Realism in Poland during an era of avantgarde modernisms and experimentation in the novel between the two world wars. We look at the autobiographical aspects of D\u0105browska\u2019s story, and Johnston makes a case for reading it more as a carefully crafted artistic fiction than as a thinly fictionalized memoir. We also consider issues in the translation of the work and problems for the translator in dedicating years to a roman-fleuve of four substantial volumes without a contract up front.\nMaria D\u0105browska in English translation and additional resources:\nD\u0105browska, Maria. The Nights and the Days. Tr. Bill Johnston. \nD\u0105browska, Maria. A Polish Christmas. Tr. Dorota Debska-Daunt, afterword by Dr Jerzy Szumski, and wood engravings by Chris Daunt. United Kingdom: Society of Wood Engravers, 2001.\nD\u0105browska, Maria. \u201cA Village Wedding\u201d and other stories. Warsaw: Polonia Pub. House, 1957. (Mentioned in OCLC WorldCat with no known libraries shown as owning a copy, but included here for reference. Some libraries may have it in catalogues that have not been digitized and incorporated into WorldCat. Copies may be available for purchase through the internet from used bookstores in Poland. Search for the author and title in your favorite search engine and look for an antykwariat with a copy for sale.)\nFolejewski, Zbigniew. Maria D\u0105browska. Twayne\u2019s World Authors Series 16. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1967. (Try your nearest university or research library or interlibrary loan.)\nBill Johnston is currently Michael Henry Heim Chair in Central and East European Letters at Indiana University. His most recent translations include Wies\u0142aw My\u015bliwski\u2019s Needle\u2019s Eye (Archipelago Books, 2025), a Financial Times Best Book of the Year, and, from the French, Great Fear on the Mountain by Swiss modernist Charles Ferdinand Ramuz (Archipelago Books, 2024), a finalist for the PEN Translation Prize. His honors include the National Translation Award in Poetry, for his rendering of Adam Mickiewicz\u2019s verse epic Pan Tadeusz; the Best Translated Book Award; the PEN Translation Prize; and a Guggenheim Fellowship. 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