SOURCE: An introduction to Polish Romantic Drama: Three Plays in English Translation, edited by Harold B. Segel, Cornell, 1977, pp. 21-71.

Below, Segel presents a detailed introduction to the dramatic works of Mickiewicz, Krasiński, andSłowacki.

In writing about a lesser-known literary culture, one is usually obliged, at the outset, to appeal to the sympathetic interest of the reader. The literature in question may not be familiar—so the plea goes—but its merits justify greater dissemination. The reader is asked to accept the argument on faith until proof is provided. For the most part, this proof takes the form of translations. If the translation is good, many of the qualities of the original penetrate the language barrier. If, on the other hand, the translation is weak, the reader is alienated. Even when the foreign literary work is available in good translation, the struggle for recognition is still...