From the Editorial Problems of Norwid's Notes and Albums (transl. by Tadeusz Karłowicz)

Abstract

In accordance with the title, the article is concerned with the editorial problems posed by the part of Norwid's work that is least known, that is his notes and albums,. The need of reflection on this domain of the poet's work appeared along with the new edition of the poet's Works. Within the edition Norwid's “portfolios” have been separated as individual volumes, which stresses both the qualitative and quantitative dimension of the phenomenon in the work of the author of On the freedom of speech (Gomulicki's edition of Complete Works included only the texts written with Norwid's own hand, excluding prints and illustrations – drawn both by the poet himself and by other people). On the one hand the article explains the reasons for such a decision, and on the other it undertakes a number of editorial questions as well as ones connected with the text that appear as a consequence of the assumptions that have been made. Apart from the problem of the autonomy of Norwid's notes and albums the question of the integral character of the collection has been touched upon; also, the problem of their final textological form, their contents (e.g. the question if inserts made by hand should be included, as they are not Norwid's own texts, but together with the notes and drawings they constitute a certain semantic and compositional whole). Ordering the illegible and sometimes complicated compositional design of the collection should be accompanied by reflection – which is shown by analyses – saying that in the case of Norwid's notes and albums (e.g. in the case of the so-called “his own summaries” or “the authors summaries”) excessive care taken of legibility and accessibility (an example being Gomulicki's edition) may lead to excessive “polishing”, and in consequence to upsetting the genological bases of the notes and albums. The problem is also raised of legibility of the notes and other sources Norwid used (often the notes are just excerpts from books he had read, and the drawings and water-colors are imitations of other artists' works). Selected issues from the domain of editing notes and albums show the specificity and stress the identity of this part of Norwid's work.