“The unfortunate editions” of Nie-Boska komedia by Zygmunt Krasiński

Abstract

The article attempts to analyse the editions of Nie-Boska komedia by Zygmunt Krasiński, which were published during the poet’s lifetime, from a perspective of a decision concerning the choice of the text’s basis used in a new critical edition. The history of three editions indicates significant differences between the first edition (Paris
1835) and the third (and last) edition, approved by the poet (Paris 1858). The main differences pertain to dedications, epigraphs, endings and many stylistic modifications introduced by the poet in the third edition of the drama. A thoroughgoing comparison of the above-mentioned three editions leads to a conclusion that there were two versions of Nie-Boska komedia: the first, which functioned during Romanticism, written by the twenty-year-old poet, dedicated to Joanna Bobrowa, who was one of the first readers of the drama, and the second, corrected by the writer, published the year before his death, contemporarily known to us (as subsequent editors based their editions on this version). The article also attempts to find the answer to the question concerning the possibility of publishing Nie-Boska komedia in two equivalent versions – based on the first and the third edition.