Brigitte Helbig-Mischewski, Ewa Kraskowska
One day in Pozna?, or how Maria Komornicka became Piotr "the Changeling” W?ast
Abstract:
Our presentation will be devoted to one of the most controversial and mysterious Polish women authors who in many ways embodies the key idea of our conference - transgression. Maria Komornicka (1876-1949) gained literary fame as a poet in her early youth. Together with two more experienced (male) colleagues (C. Jellenta and W. Na?kowski) she published an artistic manifesto entitled Forpoczty (Front line troops; 1895), thus establishing her position in the intellectual and esthetic Polish avant-garde of the time.
During her short time as a student at Cambridge she met young English women and developed a sceptical attitude towards what she saw as their superficial emancipation. Back home she soon became notorious for her unconventional behaviour and a stormy relationship with her husband Jan Lema?ski. In June 1907, while travelling with her mother to a seaside spa, she stopped for one night in Pozna?, where in a hotel room she burned her female clothes and started to call herself by the male name of Piotr Odmieniec W?ast. From then on her life was a long, sad journey through various asylums and family estates, finally ending in 1949 in a rest home.
SvD, November 2012
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