Chapter 1 Summary

The character of Maryna is visualized from a variety of perspectives - her current and former husband, the writer Ryszard, her stage dresser Zofia, her half-brother Stefan's physician Henryk, and others. Maryna relates to Ryszard that she decided to become an actress at the age of seven so she could see Stephan acting on the stage. She also tells of her marriage at 16 to a man 27 years her senior - a German who had adopted the Polish surname of Zalezowski and with whom she had a daughter who died shortly after birth.

Despite their difference in ages, her husband fostered both her acting career and that of her half-brother, Stefan. Maryna tells of her unending struggle to secure a measure of recognition that drives her to tackle newer plays in addition to her already beloved Shakespeare, Schiller and Slowacki. The chapter ends with...