“Easier and more pleasant” – school edition of “Nie-Boska komedia”

Abstract

The aim of the article is to discuss the most important school editions of Zygmunt Krasiński’s Nie-Boska komedia, which are used by modern high school students. Nie-Boska komedia has been on the reading list for secondary school students for over a hundred years. Before the 1932 reform, the drama was a compulsory reading in the 8^th grade of middle school, and is currently being discussed in Polish secondary schools as a compulsory reading from Polish (basic level).

            In the 21^st century pupils, when familiarizing themselves with Nie-Boska komedia, most frequently reach for so-called editions with elaboration, which are the final level of evolution for books from the school reading list, as a manifestation of a dangerous tendency to replace direct contact with a book with various auxiliary elements (summaries, comments, motifs etc.). Among them, the most popular one is the edition which was published as part of the series entitled “School reading with elaboration” by Cracow’s Greg Publishing House and is systematically re-published. The edition of Nie-Boska komedia from the “School reading with elaborations” series should be firmly considered as an editorial crime: both in terms of the level of elaboration and the graphic design. The article discusses all dubious decisions of the elaboration’s author, which allowed to demonstrate that the edition does not meet the requirements set for school editions, concerning all levels of preparing an edition (textological rules, modernization of spelling and punctuation, structuring the commentary).

The second edition of Krasiński’s drama discussed in the presented article is the edition of Nie-Boska komedia made available in Wolne Lektury online library. It was developed on the basis of the edition prepared by Maria Janion and Maria Grabowska with a digital reproduction made by the National Library. It is undoubtedly the best and quite carefully prepared edition of Krasiński’s drama from among the editions made available on the Internet, although it can also indicate places that need improvement or completion.