Korzeniowski, Józef

(pseudonym, Ambrozkiewicz). Born Mar. 19, 1797, in the village of Smul’no, near Brody, present-day Ukrainian SSR; died Sept. 17, 1863, in Dresden. Polish writer.

Korzeniowski was a teacher by profession and helped organize educational institutions in Poland. His first literary efforts, dating from the second decade of the 19th century, followed the classical tradition. In the 1840’s he became one of the founders of Polish critical realism. Korzeniowski’s romantic play Carpathian Mountain Folk (1843) describes life under Austrian rule, and his comedy The Jews satirizes the rich gentry. The realistic novellas The Speculator (1846) and Kollokacja (1847) deal with the theme of the power of money. In the novel Kinsmen (vols. 1–4, 1857), he presents a panorama of the various strata of Polish society. Korzeniowski’s prose combines truthful depiction of everyday life with didactic elements.