Letters from Jan Lorentowicz to Stefan Żeromski and His Family: Part 1. Letters from the Years 1889–1903

Abstract

This article aims to organise the knowledge regarding the letters of Jan Lorentowicz to Stefan Żeromski and his family from 1898 to 1925, which are stored in the collections of the National Library of Poland. This is an extensive collection consisting of 75 items. The correspondence is divided into three sections, separated by time gaps which likely result from the loss of some documents. The groups cover the periods 1898–1903, 1906–1912, and 1918–1925. This article is dedicated to the edition of the first of these sections, comprising 19 letters from Lorentowicz to Żeromski and his family from 1898 to 1903. The letters are accompanied by a commentary that explains the context referenced in the correspondence, primarily concerning the life of the Polish community in Paris at the turn of the 19^th and 20^th centuries. The section includes an important letter from Lorentowicz to Żeromski, related to the origins of Ludzie bezdomni. This letter is published here in its entirety for the first time, along with additional materials that the sender had attached to the letter.