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4th out of 85 books
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20 voters
The Doll
About the Central European Classics series:
"Half a continent's worth of forgotten genius."--The Guardian
The new Central European Classics series was born some ten years ago in the dim cafes of Budapest and Prague when General Editor Timothy Garton Ash began jotting down titles recommended to him by local writers. Its aim is to take these works of nineteenth- and twenti...more
"Half a continent's worth of forgotten genius."--The Guardian
The new Central European Classics series was born some ten years ago in the dim cafes of Budapest and Prague when General Editor Timothy Garton Ash began jotting down titles recommended to him by local writers. Its aim is to take these works of nineteenth- and twenti...more
Paperback, 702 pages
Published
December 19th 1996
by Oxford University Press, USA
(first published 1890)
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May 23, 2012
Dwight
added it
My review
The Doll takes place over an eighteen-month period during 1878-9 and looks at Polish society, with most of the focus on the growing conflict between the upper classes and the emerging tradesmen. Two ideologies are contrasted in the novel—the older Romantic ideal and the newer Positivist outlook. From the New York Review Books’ page:
The Doll takes place over an eighteen-month period during 1878-9 and looks at Polish society, with most of the focus on the growing conflict between the upper classes and the emerging tradesmen. Two ideologies are contrasted in the novel—the older Romantic ideal and the newer Positivist outlook. From the New York Review Books’ page:
Prus’s work centers around the stories of three men from three different generations: Wokulski, the fatally flawed and hopelessly love-struck hero; Rzecki, t...more
I will say this, I was lucky with this book. I was in love and unhappy and the heroe in the book was reflecting my mood and emotions, so I read this book in one breath. nevertheless this is one of the best polish classic books.
Someone in this reviews told that Prus is boring. I don't know about his other works but this book is nothing like boring. And although the book had been written about century ago it's still actual.
I can't describe whole book, it's soo much more then one could describe in...more
Someone in this reviews told that Prus is boring. I don't know about his other works but this book is nothing like boring. And although the book had been written about century ago it's still actual.
I can't describe whole book, it's soo much more then one could describe in...more
You've probably never heard of this book, but it comes damn close to meeting War and Peace on its own terms.
History rolls forward. The aristocratic scumbags are replaced by capitalist scumbags. The solutions to yesterday's problems become new problems and we don't get anywhere. A great man becomes a great man in pursuit of a vain and hopeless goal that eventually destroys him. A world of fops, fools, scoundrels, and nihilists loses something it desperately needs.
We can be 99% certain that societ...more
History rolls forward. The aristocratic scumbags are replaced by capitalist scumbags. The solutions to yesterday's problems become new problems and we don't get anywhere. A great man becomes a great man in pursuit of a vain and hopeless goal that eventually destroys him. A world of fops, fools, scoundrels, and nihilists loses something it desperately needs.
We can be 99% certain that societ...more
In writing this majestic novel about fin de siècle 19th century Warsaw, Prus illustrated all the social currents that would make Poland such a cauldron of differing identities in the following century. Ostensibly a story about the excruciating infatuation of a successful merchant, Wokulski, for a noble's daughter, the book is also about three generations of men coming to terms with Poland's past and present and trying to break away from the Nobles' Republic in order to create a modern future for...more
5 likes · like · see review
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Good, but it would be better in shorter version. Medium engaging stuff.
Dla niektórych to może była katorga. Dla mnie to nie była lektura szkolna i może dlatego rozdarta postać Wokulskiego, który za bardzo uwierzył w swoje szczęście i niesamowicie wyważonego i opanowanego Rzeckiego, który wszystko, włącznie z własną śmiercią, pięknie przeżył, bardzo poruszyły.
Apr 28, 2011
Cole
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
People who think War and Peace is too cinematic and want something more "human."
Recommended to Cole by:
Milan
I have been reading this book for a year. 1) It's long and hard to carry around. 2) I don't want it to end. 3) Polish society from a hundred years ago takes a very long time to immerse oneself into so I have to block out an hour at a time to read it and I rarely have a spare hour.
Picked it up on Kundera's rec'.
Picked it up on Kundera's rec'.
It took me some time to get into the story but it was worth the effort. I liked the author's writing style, the atmosphere of the 19th century Warsaw and the way he described - so precisely! - people's thoughts and feelings.
What I didn't like was that each character was stupid in his/her own way and sometimes I simply wanted to shout at them. Wokulski did not see anything beside his Izabela, Rzecki went on and on about "politics" and "Napoleon heir", Izabela was into her high society status... a...more
What I didn't like was that each character was stupid in his/her own way and sometimes I simply wanted to shout at them. Wokulski did not see anything beside his Izabela, Rzecki went on and on about "politics" and "Napoleon heir", Izabela was into her high society status... a...more
If I had to choose only one book from the whole polish literature to show it to the world - it would be "The Doll".
Think of Tolstoy set in Warsaw with a dash of Trollope and a pinch of Dickens thrown in for good measure.
As for a school obligatory reading, it wasn't bad. I even enjoyed some bits.
The polish classic but really vivid and absorbing.
I have to admit that's the first school lecture book that moved me so much. It's really deep and full of emotions in any kind from anger to angst, along with happiness.
Apr 03, 2010
Selenita
marked it as abandoned
Надо когда-то дочитать.
Nuda i flaki z olejem. Normalne u Prusa.
1 like · like · see review
brilliant! brilliant!
truly great, sadly overlooked
Warning: Boring book!!!
Niesamowita książka, cieszę się, że dałam się przekonać do jej przeczytania;).
Nienawidzę Izabeli....
... ale kurczę, jest mi tez jej trochę żal. Była tylko porcelanową lalką do ustawienia na półce i podziwiania. Robiła rzeczy, których od niej oczekiwano.
Za to Wokulski....
Tak wspaniały mężczyzna. I tak przerażająco smutny los.
Nienawidzę Izabeli....
... ale kurczę, jest mi tez jej trochę żal. Była tylko porcelanową lalką do ustawienia na półce i podziwiania. Robiła rzeczy, których od niej oczekiwano.
Za to Wokulski....
Tak wspaniały mężczyzna. I tak przerażająco smutny los.
A Polish classic.
When the supporting cast are head and shoulders above the main interest, you've got a problem. If it weren't 800 pages I might find that easier to forgive.
Pamiętam, że czytałam ją prawie jednym tchem. Po wielu latach pamiętam niektóre opisy; sklepiki i ulice, stroje, interesujące postacie.
Uwielbiam, po prostu uwielbiam! Świetna książka, jedna z najlepszych lektur szkoły średniej.
Listened to the audiobook - excellent book, very well done auiobook
Nineteenth-century social realism doesn't get much better than this.
Gdyby nie ta objetosc, to moze bylaby znosna...
Masterpiece.
Najlepsza lektura jaką 'czytałem' (z braku czasu słucham lektur w formacie mp3).
Fajny klimat, ciekawy główny bohater, dialogi na wysokim poziomie.
Fajny klimat, ciekawy główny bohater, dialogi na wysokim poziomie.
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Bolesław Prus (pronounced:[bɔ'lεswaf 'prus]; Hrubieszów, August 20, 1847 – May 19, 1912, Warsaw), whose actual name was Aleksander Głowacki, was a Polish journalist and novelist who is known especially for his novels The Doll and Pharaoh. He was the leading representative of realism in 19th-century Polish literature and remains a distinctive voice in world literature. Głowacki took the pen name "P...more
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“Bywają wielkie zbrodnie na świecie, ale chyba największą jest zabić miłość. Tyle lat upłynęło, prawie pół wieku ; wszystko przeszło: majątek, tytuły, młodość, szczęście... Sam tylko żal nie przeszedł i pozostał, mówię ci, taki świeży, jakby to było wczoraj. Ach, gdyby nie wiara, że jest inny świat, w którym podobno wynagrodzą tutejsze krzywdy, kto wie, czy nie przeklęłoby się i życia, i jego konwenansów...”
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“Przecież dlatego kobiety wszędzie są niewolnicami, że lgną do tych, którzy je lekceważą.”
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