Editing Władysław Reymont (section)

==Major books==
[[File:Malczewski Władysław Reymont.jpg|thumb|''Portrait of Władysław Reymont'', 1905, by [[Jacek Malczewski]]]]
Critics admit a number of similarities between Reymont and the [[Naturalism (literature)|Naturalists]]. They stress that this was not a "borrowed" Naturalism but rather a record of life as experienced by the writer. Moreover, Reymont never formulated an aesthetic of his writing. In that, he resembled other Polish autodidacts such as [[Mikołaj Rej]] and [[Aleksander Fredro]]. With little higher education and inability to read another language, Reymont realized that it was his knowledge of grounded reality, not literary theory, that was his strong suit.

His novel ''Komediantka'' paints the drama of a rebellious girl from the provinces who joins a traveling theatre troupe and finds, instead of escape from the mendacity of her native surroundings, a nest of intrigue and sham. In ''Fermenty'', a sequel to ''Komediantka'', the heroine, rescued after a suicide attempt, returns to her family and accepts the burden of existence. Aware that dreams and ideas do not come true, she marries a ''[[nouveau riche]]'' who is in love with her.

''[[The Promised Land (novel)|Ziemia Obiecana]]'' (''The Promised Land''), possibly Reymont's best-known novel, is a social panorama of the city of [[Łódź]] during the industrial revolution, full of dramatic detail, presented as an arena of the struggle for survival. In the novel, the city destroys those who accept the rules of the "rat race", as well as those who do not. The moral gangrene equally affects the three main characters, a German, a Jew, and a Pole. This dark vision of cynicism, illustrating the bestial qualities of men and the law of the jungle, where ethics, noble ideas and holy feelings turn against those who believe in them, are, as the author intended, at the same time a denunciation of industrialisation and urbanisation.

''[[The Promised Land (novel)|Ziemia Obiecana]]'' has been translated into at least 15 languages and two film adaptations—one in 1927, directed by A. Węgierski and A. Hertz, the other, in 1975, directed  by [[Andrzej Wajda]].

In ''Chłopi'', Reymont created a more complete and suggestive picture of country life than any other Polish writer.{{citation needed|date=January 2015}} The novel impresses the reader with its authenticity of the material reality, customs, behaviour and spiritual culture of the people. It is authentic and written in the local dialect. Reymont uses dialect in dialogues and in narration, creating a kind of a universal language of Polish peasants. Thanks to this, he presents the colourful reality of the "spoken" culture of the people better than any other author.{{citation needed|date=January 2015}} He set the action in Lipce, a real village which he came to know during his work on the railway near Skierniewice, and restricted the time of events to ten months in the unspecified "now" of the 19th century. It is not history that determines the rhythm of country life, but the "unspecified time" of eternal returns. The composition of the novel astonishes the reader with its strict simplicity and functionality.

The titles of the volumes signal a tetralogy in one vegetational cycle, which regulates the eternal and repeatable rhythm of village life. Parallel to that rhythm is a calendar of religion and customs, also repeatable. In such boundaries Reymont placed a colourful country community with sharply drawn individual portraits. The repertoire of human experience and the richness of spiritual life, which can be compared with the repertoire of [[Biblical]] books and [[Greek myths]], has no doctrinal ideas or didactic exemplifications. The author does not believe in doctrines, but rather in his knowledge of life, the mentality of the people described, and his sense of reality. It is easy to point to moments of Naturalism (e.g., some erotic elements) or to illustrative motives characteristic of [[Symbolism (arts)|Symbolism]]. It is equally easy to prove the Realistic values of the novel. None of the "isms" however, would be enough to describe it.{{citation needed|date=January 2015}} The novel was filmed twice (directed by E. Modzelewski in 1922 and by J. Rybkowski in 1973) and has been translated into at least 27 languages.