Gabriela Zapolska

(real surname. Korwin-Piotrowska, married names Śniezka, Janpwska). Born Mar. 30, 1857, in Podhajcy, present-day Ukrainian SSR; died Dec. 17, 1921, in L’viv. Polish writer and actress.

Zapolska began publishing in the 1880’s. In her prose a knowledge of customs and mores and bold exposure of social evils are combined with naturalistic tendencies. Her dramas and comedies are characterized by skillful composition and characterization and by expressive dialogue. Her best play, The Morals of Pani Dulska (1906), satirizes the hypocrisy of the petite bourgeoisie. She wrote about the disintegration of the bourgeois family (The Four of Them, 1907) and about the thwarted lives of women (The Young Frog, 1896). Zapolska also chose subjects from the Polish patriotic struggle (That Man, 1899) and was interested in socialist ideas (In Dqbrowa Górnicza, 1899; the novel The Forest Is Rustling, 1899).