Biography

Józef Ignacy Kraszewski (28 July 1812 – 19 March 1887) was a Polish novelist, journalist, historian, publisher, painter, and musician.

Born in Warsaw into a noble family, he spent much of his youth with his maternal grandparents in Romanów and completed his education in various cities, including Vilna. Kraszewski's literary career began in 1830, and he became an influential writer and journalist. Despite facing political challenges and imprisonment for his involvement in the November Uprising, he continued to support Polish independence. He spent his later years in Dresden, where he remained active in political and literary circles until his death in Geneva.

Kraszewski wrote over 200 novels and several hundred novellas, short stories, and art reviews, making him the most prolific writer in the history of Polish literature and one of the most prolific in world literature. He is best known for his historical novels, including an epic series on the history of Poland, comprising twenty-nine historical novels; and for novels about peasant life, critical of feudalism and serfdom. His works have been described as liberal-democratic but not radical, and as proto-Positivist.