Loneliness over a piece of paper. Dąbrowska as an epistolographer

Abstract

The publication of Maria Dąbrowska Diaries allowed to look at the writer from a new, previously unknown perspective; her diary became one of the most important testimonies of contemporary times. A huge surprise for the historians of literature was vast correspondence of the writer numbering many thousands pieces in the following years. Among many of her sets of letters the most interesting ones are those exchanged with Marian Dąbrowski (ed. 2005), Jerzy Stempowski (ed. 2010) and his father Stanislaw (edition in preparation) as well as with a long-term life companion Anna Kowalska. The latter set numbering over 3100 letters, approved for publication due to the decision of heirs, will be published unabridged in years 2016-22; works on the first volume (1943-45) are significantly in progress. Among the sets designed for publication in the near future there is also the one with Kazimierz Wierzyński. This article discusses the most important sets of letters from and to Dąbrowska indicating their factual wealth and biographical specificity.