The Adventures of Mr. Nicholas Wisdom
by Ignacy Krasicki
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Description
Winner, 1997 National Book Award for Poetry Winner, 1993 PEN Book-of-the-Month Club Translation Prize Published in 1776 and considered the first Polish novel ever written, The Adventures of Mr. Nicholas Wisdom is a picaresque tale following the naïve title character's coming of age. Having conquered (and fled) sophisticated Warsaw, Nicholas enjoys many adventures across Europe, South America, and the high seas. He finally lands among the natives of an unknown isle who reject his allegedly show more superior European ways and instead tutor him for an "enlightened" existence. Resonant with Enlightenment ideas, The Adventures of Mr. Nicholas Wisdom provides a sly portrait of the era's Polish society and a fascinating perspective on the broader problems of eighteenth-century European culture. show lessTags
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Said to be the first Polish novel (written in 1776), this reminded me of nothing so much as Candide. A Polish nobleman goes various places both real and fictional (including the island of Nipu) where he learns what is important to being a good person and a good citizen. An excellent translation and a good sense of the social fabric of the period in Poland and France. (Krasicki himself turns out to be a fascinating, quite accomplished gentleman.)
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Author Information
17+ Works 114 Members
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Adventures of Mr. Nicholas Wisdom
- Original title
- Mikolaja Doswiadczynskiego przypadki
- Original publication date
- 1776
- Original language
- Polish
Classifications
- Genres
- Fiction and Literature, General Fiction
- DDC/MDS
- 891.8 — Literature & rhetoric Literatures of other languages East Indo-European and Celtic literatures West and South Slavic languages (Bulgarian, Slovene, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Serbo-Croatian, and Macedonian)
- LCC
- PG7157 .K7 .M513 — Language and Literature Slavic languages and literatures. Baltic languages. Albanian language Slavic. Baltic. Albanian Slavic Polish
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 53
- Popularity
- 585,051
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (3.40)
- Languages
- English, Italian
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 3
