Mochnacki, Maurycy

Born Sept. 13, 1803 (or 1804), in the village of Boianets, present-day Nesterov Raion, L’vov Oblast, Ukrainian SSR; died Dec. 20, 1834, in Auxerre, France. Polish politician, publicist, and critic.

Mochnacki was a member of the conspiratorial organization that planned the Polish Uprising of 1830–31. At the beginning of the uprising he was deputy chairman of the Patriotic Society and a co-founder of its press organ, Nowa Polska (New Poland), where he published several programmatic articles reflecting the position of the organization’s left wing. After the defeat of the uprising, he emigrated to France, where he soon shifted to the right, becoming a follower of A. Czartoryski. Mochnacki is the author of an unfinished work on the history of the uprising. In his literary articles he elaborated the aesthetics of romanticism and stressed the national aspect of literature. His main work is On Polish Literature in the 19th Century.