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Jan Potocki

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born

March 08, 1761 in Pików na Podolu, Poland

died

December 02, 1815

gender

male

About this author

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Jan Potocki (Polish pronunciation: [pɔtɔtski]) was born into the Potocki family, an aristocratic family, that owned vast estates in Poland. He was educated in Geneva and Lausanne, served twice in the Polish Army as a captain of engineers, and spent some time on a galley as a novice Knight of Malta. He was probably a Freemason and had a strong interest in the occult.
Potocki's colorful life took him across Europe, Asia and North Africa, where he embroiled himself in political intrigues, flirted with secret societies, contributed to the birth of ethnology — he was one of the first to study the precursors of the Slavic peoples from a linguistic and historical standpoint.
In 1790 he became the first person in Poland to fly in a hot air balloon wh...more Jan Potocki (Polish pronunciation: [pɔtɔtski]) was born into the Potocki family, an aristocratic family, that owned vast estates in Poland. He was educated in Geneva and Lausanne, served twice in the Polish Army as a captain of engineers, and spent some time on a galley as a novice Knight of Malta. He was probably a Freemason and had a strong interest in the occult.
Potocki's colorful life took him across Europe, Asia and North Africa, where he embroiled himself in political intrigues, flirted with secret societies, contributed to the birth of ethnology — he was one of the first to study the precursors of the Slavic peoples from a linguistic and historical standpoint.
In 1790 he became the first person in Poland to fly in a hot air balloon when he made an ascent over Warsaw with the aeronaut Jean-Pierre Blanchard, an exploit that earned him great public acclaim. He also established in 1788 in Warsaw a publishing house named Drukarnia Wolna (Free Press) as well as the city's first free reading room.
Potocki's wealth enabled him to travel extensively about Europe, the Mediterranean and Asia, visiting Italy, Sicily, Malta, the Netherlands, Germany, France, England, Russia, Turkey, Spain, Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt, and even Mongolia. He was also one of the first travel writers of the modern era, penning lively accounts of many of his journeys, during which he also undertook extensive historical, linguistic and ethnographic studies. As well as his many scholarly and travel writings, he also wrote a play, a series of sketches and a novel.
Potocki married twice and had five children. His first marriage ended in divorce, and both marriages were the subject of scandalous rumors. In 1812, disillusioned and in poor health, he retired to his estate at Uladowka in Podolia, suffering from "melancholia" (which today would probably be diagnosed as depression), and during the last few years of his life he completed his novel.
Potocki committed suicide in December 1815 at the age of 54, though the exact date is uncertain — possibly November 20, December 2 or December 11. There are also several versions of the circumstances of his death; the best-known story is that he shot himself in the head with a silver bullet — fashioned from the strawberry-shaped knob of a sugar bowl given to him by his mother — which he first had blessed by his castle priest. One version of Potocki's suicide suggests that he gradually filed the knob off the lid, a little every morning.
Potocki's most famous work is The Manuscript Found in Saragossa. Originally written in French as Manuscrit trouvé à Saragosse, it is a frame tale which he wrote to entertain his wife. On account of its rich interlocking structure and telescoping story sequences, the novel has drawn comparisons to such celebrated works as the Decameron and the Arabian Nights.(less)

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Average rating: 4.24 · 558 ratings · 73 reviews · 18 distinct works

	The Manuscript Found in Saragossa by Jan Potocki, Ian Maclean (Translator) 4.26 avg rating — 483 ratings — published 1804 — 50 editions	My rating:
	Cuentos Fantasticos Del Siglo XIX by Jan Potocki, Julio Martínez Mesanza, Italo Calvino 4.50 avg rating — 6 ratings — published 2005	My rating:
	Hafız'ın Yolculuğu 2.60 avg rating — 5 ratings — published 2000	My rating:
	Diabli wiedzą co... by Jan Potocki, Roman Zmorski, Władysław Łoziński 4.00 avg rating — 1 rating — published 1972	My rating:
	Voyage dans les steppes d'Astrakhan et du Caucase 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 1980 — 3 editions	My rating:
	Social Structures in Theory and Practice: New Hypothesis and Its Applications 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 2009	My rating:
	Fragments Historiques Et Geographiques V1-2: Sur La Scythie, La Sarmatie Et Les Slaves (1796) 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 2009 — 4 editions	My rating:
	Voyage En Turquie Et En Egypte 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 1999 — 2 editions	My rating:
	Parades: Les Bohemiens D'andalousie 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	My rating:
	Ecrits politiques 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 1987	My rating:

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Jan Potocki

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