{"product_id":"the-doll-isbn-9781590173831","title":"The Doll","description":"Bołeslaw Prus\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003eis often compared to Chekhov, and Prus’s masterpiece might be described as an intimate epic, a beautifully detailed, utterly absorbing exploration of life in late-nineteenth-century Warsaw, which is also a prophetic reckoning with some of the social forces—imperialism, nationalism, anti-Semitism among them—that would soon convulse Europe as never before. But \u003ci\u003eThe Doll\u003c\/i\u003e is above all a brilliant novel of character, dramatizing conflicting ideas through the various convictions, ambitions, confusions, and frustrations of an extensive and varied cast. At the center of the book are three men from three different generations. Prus’s fatally flawed hero is Wokulski, a successful businessman who yearns for recognition from Poland’s decadent aristocracy and falls desperately in love with the highborn, glacially beautiful Izabela.\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003eWokulski’s story is intertwined with those of the incorrigibly romantic old clerk Rzecki, nostalgic for the revolutions of 1848, and of the bright young scientist Ochocki, who dreams of a future full of flying machines and other marvels, making for a book of great scope and richness that is, as Stanisław Barańczak writes in his introduction, at once “an old-fashioned yet still fascinating love story . . . , a still topical diagnosis of society’s ills, and a forceful yet subtle portrayal of a tragically doomed man\u003ci\u003e.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cp\u003e“This utterly oddball, fiercely enjoyable novel dissects the self-destructive romanticism of a brilliant, self-made tycoon who falls in love with a glamorous airhead. The book, with Proustian patience and subtlety, analyzes the delusions of infatuation seen through the lens of class.”\u003cbr\u003e —Phillip Lopate, \u003ci\u003eSalon\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “\u003ci\u003eThe Doll \u003c\/i\u003edemonstrates 19th-century realism at its best.” \u003cbr\u003e —Czesław Miłosz \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “. . . a great panoramic novel of 19th-century Poland.”\u003cbr\u003e —Timothy Garton Ash, \u003ci\u003eThe Independent\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBOLESŁAW PRUS (1847–1912) was born Aleksander Głowacki in the provincial town of Hrubieszów, Poland. His mother died in 1850; his father, an estate steward of noble birth (the author’s pen name is a reference to the family’s origin near the Prussian border), died six years later, leaving him in the care of relatives in Puławy and Lublin. In 1862, he moved to Kielce with his older brother Leon, a Polish patriot. The next year, the teenaged Aleksander joined in the January 1863 uprising against Russian rule. Wounded in battle, he was imprisoned in Lublin Castle, but released when he was discovered to be underage. He then finished high school and enrolled in university, but lacked the funds to graduate. Instead, he worked several odd jobs, including a stint in a metallurgical factory, before taking up journalism. Prus eventually made a name for himself as a writer of feuilletons, publishing his much-admired \u003ci\u003eKroniki\u003c\/i\u003e in the \u003ci\u003eKurier Warszawski\u003c\/i\u003e between 1875 and 1887 and also achieving some success with his short stories. \u003ci\u003eThe Outpost\u003c\/i\u003e, published in 1885, was the first of four novels that secured his literary reputation. It was followed by \u003ci\u003eThe Doll \u003c\/i\u003e(1890), \u003ci\u003eEmancipated Women\u003c\/i\u003e (1894), and \u003ci\u003eThe Pharaoh\u003c\/i\u003e (1897). A respected but no longer fashionable writer, Prus dedicated his last years to social reform and philanthropic work.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e STANISŁAW BARAŃCZAK is a poet, translator, and literary critic. He won the 2007 Nike Award for the best work of Polish literature published in the previous year and the 2009 Silesius Poetry Award for lifetime achievement. He is a professor of Polish language and literature at Harvard University.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDAVID WELSH'S translations include \u003ci\u003eA Dreambook   for Our Time\u003c\/i\u003e by Tadeusz Konwicki, \u003ci\u003eCloak of Illusion\u003c\/i\u003e by Stanislaw Dygat, and \u003ci\u003eBlack  Torrent \u003c\/i\u003eby Leopold Buczkowski.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"NYRB Classics","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46304908509413,"sku":"NP9781590173831","price":29.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781590173831.jpg?v=1767739055","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/the-doll-isbn-9781590173831","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}