Lucjan Rydel – mniej znane karty z życiorysu. Działalność oświatowa

Abstrakt

LUCJAN RYDEL’S EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITY. THE LESS KNOWN ASPECTS OF HIS LIFE

Lucjan Rydel (1870–1918) was a poet, a playwright, a pedagogue and an educational activist. He was also a popular translator of classic literature (his translation of The Odyssey was considered one of the best translations of Homer’s classic into Polish). However, until the publication of Józef Dużyk’s monograph Droga do Bronowic. Opowieść o Lucjanie Rydlu (The way to Bronowice. The story of Lucjan Rydel) in 1968 he remained a highly underestimated, even an obscure figure. In the consciousness of many generations of Poles he became fossilized as the Bridegroom – a character from Stanisław Wyspiański’s play The Wedding. His personality had been overdrawn by the author to suit the overall structure of the drama. It must be stated with all due force that Rydel’s actions were in fact not only the results of his fascination with the folk culture. The chief values Rydel embraced in his family home were: respect for others and love of one’s country, and it was these values that motivated him to work. Being a patriot, he deplored the fact that Poland lacked the status of an independent state. He became involved in pro-national activity to the best of his energy and abilities, i.e. by bringing culture and education closer to the poorest stratum of Polish society – the peasants. He also worked as a travelling lecturer and educated the poorest part of the urban population as part of the project called “Powszechne Wykłady Uniwersyteckie” (University Lectures for All). His marriage to Jadwiga Mikołajczykówna, the daughter of a peasant from Bronowice (a village just outside Kraków) was not an expression of his submissiveness to the fashion of „peasant mania”, but rather a well thought-out decision which consequently led him towards an even more ardent involvement in social and educational work. He propagated reading among peasants and even organized a library for them in his house in Tonie (another village near Kraków). He was a great advocate for the village theatre. He presented his novel ideas on the subject in his article Teatr wiejski w przyszłości (Village theatre in the future). Together with the people of Tonie he established an amateur theatre; one of the plays it produced was a nativity play he wrote in 1904 Betlejem Polskie (The Polish Bethlehem).