The Comedienne

This title is printed to order. This book may have been self-published. If so, we cannot guarantee the quality of the content. In the main most books will have gone through the editing process however some may not. We therefore suggest that you be aware of this before ordering this book. If in doubt check either the author or publisher’s details as we are unable to accept any returns unless they are faulty. Please contact us if you have any questions.

The Comedienne draws on Nobel Prize winner, Wladyslav Reymont’s, own experiences as an actor in a struggling provincial theatre at the fin de siecle, at time of massive social upheaval in Europe. Reymont depicts, in a slow burning tragedy, a young provincial Janina, the comedienne of the title, who joins a Warsaw theatre company and struggles toward what was then a very modern notion of personal freedom. A ‘Comedienne’ also played drama and tragedy and the word in Polish had some connotation of a deceiver. As such, the title in Reymont’s day would have implied a somewhat darker novel that we might unwittingly expect today. This edition has been completely re-edited and includes over 500 amendments, corrections and new translations to the orignal text. The introduction by Marianna Rychlowska includes; - Biographical details of the author - Historical context of the book - Literary notes - Historical review of early theatre in Poland - Theatre reportage by Henryk Sienkiewicz These unique insights provide the contemporary reader with much of the commonly understood historical context that was assumed of the original audience.