"The Year 1794"

The events of this novel go back the last decade of the 18th century. Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth has just been dismembered for a second time, which in a paradoxical and tragic way seems to be the fruit of four-year „Great Seym". It presents the time of Grodno Seym (1793) and Tadeusz Kosciuszko's Insurection. The novel consists of three episodes:

1. "The last Seym in Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth"

2. "Nil Desperandum"

3. "The Insurrection"

All three volumes are interrelated by the presence of the main character- Severyn Zagloba, who is a memberof so-called „Reform Camp". Throughout the story he travels from Grodno to Warsaw and Paris, and when he is back in Poland, he takes part in Kosciuszko's Pledge at The Main Market in Cracow (24th of March 1794). Then he participates as a soldier in Warsaw uprising in April 1794.

The author did not manage to complete the third episode of the Trilogy- „The Insurrection". What is known, however, is that he intended to take the plot as far as the lost beattle near Maciejowice or Praga Carnage, outskirts of Warsaw, in November 1794.

What has to appreciated about the books is that they touch upon the very important problem of falling and moral deterioration of the Polish society. This was actually absent in other writers' texts. Reymont in an excellent way described the national treason and the role, which intrigues and servility played in it.

There are some weaknesses of the stories, too. First, the heroes, and Zareba above all, seem to be psychologically unreal.

Secondly, Reymont's style may be irritating; the sentences are too long and imprecise, there are plenty of baroque descriptions and elaborate dialogues. The prtraits of important historic personages are often inconsistent and obscure. (For instance the last King Stanislas August is meant here).

In the field of historical writing Reymont, despite all his ambitious intentions, cannot compare to Sienkiewicz. This may be said both about his way of building the pictures of the main heroes' characters and of presenting the impotrtant historic backgrounds. Still, it is a valuable point in the evolution of Polish historical novel.