Sport w „Kronikach Tygodniowych” Bolesława Prusa

• Authors: Magdalena Bialic

Title variants

EN

SPORT IN THE “WEEKLY CHRONICLES” BY BOLESŁAW PRUS

• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

EN

The year 2012 was the centenary of the birth of Bolesław Prus, author of Lalka (The Doll), Emancypantki (The New Woman) and Faraon (Pharaoh). Many readers associate this writer mostly with his novels but his literary output also includes the so-called “Kroniki Tygodniowe” (Weekly Chonicles), which in fact were the beginning of his literary career and fame. Prus wrote his extremely popular “Chronicles” - from which many Varsovians started to read their daily newspaper – between 1875 and 1910, publishing them in Kurier Warszawski and later in Kurier Codzienny. He knew the issues he wrote about from personal experience, he was very careful in verifying facts and news, and he often compared situations that he noticed with parallel situations abroad. He described all the good and bad sides of Warsaw. His work can be compared with the famous vedutas by Bernardo Canaletto, who showed all the realities of Warsaw a century before Prus. After reading many volumes of the Chronicles it would be easier to list the topics that Prus was not interested in than those that attracted his attention and inspired him to write. The Chronicles explore themes and motifs that recurred in all his journalistic writings. One of them was sport. Prus was an ardent sport fan and he went in for sports himself, therefore he often wrote about both sport and his compatriots’ fitness. He described the bad physical condition of Poles, being especially concerned about children and young people. He saw sport as the only chance to improve the situation. In the early Chronicles he wrote a lot about gymnastics and its almost “magic” effects, advocating it most ardently. He propagated the Warsaw Rowing Association and the Warsaw Cycling Association; he was himself a member of both associations, although of the two sports he was more keen on cycling, which he learnt being already an elderly man. In one of the Chronicles, he overtly encouraged the readers to buy bicycles. In addition to gymnastics, rowing and cycling, he also described the delights of skating and swimming. Sport topics were so important in the Chronicles as the author believed that sport facilitated the emancipation and self-improvement of society and that on the playing ground people acquired the principles of fair play, which could then be applied elsewhere.

Keywords

EN

SPORT; BOLESŁAW PRUS; MAGAZINE

• Publisher: Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology, Polish Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Kwartalnik Historii Kultury Materialnej
• Year: 2012
• Volume: 60
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 457-472

Contributors

author

Magdalena Bialic