The Doll (New York Review Books Classics) - Classic Literature Novel for Book Lovers, Perfect for Reading, Book Clubs & Literary Gifts

I immensely enjoyed the story; the characters (especially Stas); the details of life in Warsaw, the Polish countryside and Paris; the overall quality of the writing; etc.Two other observations. Firstly, a very strong undercurrent of anti-semitism runs throughout the book, which was a bit uncomfortable to read at times. I was struck by how prevalent these sentiments seemed to be in Poland at the time. I guess I had heard this was the case, but to see it present in such a matter of fact way, albeit in a novel, was still unsettling.Tied to that was some of the commentary from the Jewish characters that times would get even tougher for them as they were experiencing increasing levels of prejudice: a grim foreshadowing of future events.Secondly, I could not help from thinking how awful things would become in Warsaw in some 40-50 years after this book was published. Prus describes much of Warsaw life in loving detail, complete with vivid descriptions of buildings, streets, parks, etc: all to be turned into indescribable rubble and chaos by the Nazis, with no little help from the Soviets. Very sad, indeed.Just like Zeromski, Prus is concerned with the nation identity of Poland before WWI. The central character is the "tradsman," or the capitalist with a heart whose obsession to win legitimacy in the eyes of a crumbling Polish aristocracy, and the heart of a young woman raised to flirt and tease her way into marriage to uphold the integrity and property of her class. The novel is at once a comedy of manners which then shifts to more serious matters of fading entitlement and self-actualization.Cannot type much on this little gizmo. Suffice to say the passages on Paris alone make this a masterpiece. If I had to choose between reaching The Doll again or War and Peace, I'd grab The Doll.The inability to easily navigate in this format made the read a real slog through mud and much less enjoyable that it may have been. I'd so looked forward to reading this Polish classic in a good English translation, so the disappointment was great. It was difficult to keep the characters and time frame straight in what would otherwise have been a wonderful experience.Fantastic book. Love reading it again. This is a great novel depicting life in Warsaw, the capital of Poland, in the XIX century. All the characters are vividly portrayed.Think of Tolstoy set in Warsaw with a dash of Trollope and a pinch of Dickens thrown in for good measure.Boleslaw Prus' The Doll falls into a category of books which could be described as peripheral realism. They are late 19th century novels which share nothing in common except that they are written in countries which are in the "periphery" of world literature. This is not a comment on their quality, but on the lack of curiosity of the Anglo-American mind to take the trouble to encounter them. Other examples of this trend are the Spaniard Benito Perez Galdos, the Portuguese writer Jose Maria de Eca de Quieros and the Italians Giovanni Verga and Antonio Fogazzaro."The Doll" is not of the same quality as such works as "Fortunata and Jacintha", "The Maias," or even "The Little World of the Past." Supposedly it is the story of a successful businessman who tries and fails to win the heart of a shallow, spoiled, aristocratic girl--the doll of the title. It is this story, but there is more to it than that, more than what Prus thinks. When the protagonist Stanislaw Wokulski is not worrying ineffectively over Izabela Lecki, he is a smashingly successfully businessman. Why he is so succcessful is not really made clear, Prus does not have Balzac's eye for describing complex financial transactions in compelling ways. Wokulski is obviously a good employer and obviously a man of charitable and humane impulses. The woman he assists, and whom his clerk thinks would be a better wife, Mrs. Sawatska, is a rather conventional portrait of female virtue. If there is anything truly "Dickensian" in this book, as the dust jacket promises, it is not Prus' sense of detail, which is meagre, or a fine talent for grotesquerie or wit, but instead the conventional, rather vapid portrait of his heroes. The style is prosaic, the social atmosphere rather narrow, and people wanting to learn about the urbanity or religious life or common people or entertainments of 19th century Warsaw should look elsewhere.There is one passage that is an exception to this. It really is remarkable, the one that portrays Izabela's complete isolation from the real world. "If anyone had asked her point-blank what this world is, and what she herself was, she would have certainly have repled that the world is an enchanted garden full of magical castles, and that she herself was a goddess or nymph imprisoned in a body."From her cradle, Izabela had lived in a beautiful world that was not only superhuman but even supernatural. For she slept in feathers, dressed in silks and satins, sat on carved and polished ebony or rosewood, drank from crystal, ate from silver and porcelain as costly as gold."The seasons of the year did not exist for her, only an everlasting spring full of soft light, living flowers and perfumes. The times of day did not exist for her either, since for whole months at a time she would go to bed at eight in the monring and dine at two at night. There was no difference in geographical location, since in Paris, Vienna, Rome, Berlin or London she would find the same food--soups from Pacific seaweed, oysters from the North Sea, fish from the Atlantic or Mediterranean, animals from every country, fruits from all parts of the globe. For her, even the force of gravity did not exist, since her chairs were placed for her, plates were handed, she herself was driven in carriages through the streets, conducted inside, helped upstairs."As for other parts of the novel, there is a continuing theme of anti-semitism as Wokulski and his colleagues notice with some concern its rise. Unfortunately it is not entirely clear whether Wokulski or Prus fully recognize its evil or whether they share some of it themselves. On a first glance Wokulski is a hard working businessman, the kind that Poland obviously needs, who is not appreciated by its inefficient aristocracy. They look down on him as an arriviste and the selfish, vapid Izabela either ignores him or toys with his feelings. But on another level Wokulski is not really attracted to her. He is in more in love with the concept of matrimony than with an actual person. It is not simply the conservative atmosphere around courting that hampers him, but Wokulski's own lack of force. This portait of Wokulski's ambiguity, an almost Hamlet like quality of indecision, does not make compelling reading. But it is an important portrait of impotent masochism and it is expertly done. It is this that establishes Prus' claim to greatness.This novel is a piece of micro-sociology in action. The story of Stanislav Vokulski aspirational life, the impossibilities of his love, the context painted with paints taken from "all-social levels and intersections" is depicted in the way that the imagination really imagine the tensions of those created, but not paper, lives. Many of book's characters strives for the notion of "development" both social and individual.The author took care to make their efforts as difficult as they really are. Highly recommended for men around forty. They use to read it with much insight here in Poland at that point of their life, when taste of apparent success may occur surprisingly bitter and biggest dreams not worth the engagement.Strangely enough the book is "a must read" position in Polish high school - for 18-year kids not understanding the half of its world.This is ‘the’ acclaimed Polish classic written by Prus serialised in 1897 and full novel form in 1890. It is set in Warshaw in Poland then split between Russian, Austrian and Prussia; the local history preceding the events of the novel appear quite complicated but are detailed to some extent in the book’s notes but uprisings, unification and the elites, politics, modernity etc are the backdrop.The story is a Dickensian length of 679 pages small font text and a weighty tome – I in fact read the ebook version and kept by printed book at home. The style is that classy well constructed literary detailed narrative similar to Eliot, Tolstoy etc. It is not as naturalistic as Zola but given the indications that the Tsar’s censors had a go at it – the book has had the extracted bits put back in (I would have liked the odd note indicating when this happened; and except a whole passage placed in the appendix), it could have been a bit more forthright. Though a character list would have been nice, I didn’t have the same problems I usually do keeping track of ‘Russian-like’ names.The story itself is actually remarkably simple: Wokulski, a now wealthy thirty something shop owner, falls in love with Izabela, an impoverished young noble aristocrat, can his money win her despite his lower status? The length of the tale comes from the intricate detail of the social scene then including Barons, princes, bachelors after inheritances, mistresses and upcoming powerful money men; the histories and development of many of the side characters and importantly the life and perspective of Wokulski’s long standing friend (and shop clerk) Ignacy who has many chapters to himself as first person journal entries. I really enjoyed the style and the clever way Prus has Wokulski acting unselfishly in one way (say paying more for a house than it’s worth to get money to Izabela’s dad) and have her views interpreting this behaviour in exactly the opposite way intended. Travels to Paris, attempted suicides, duels, avenging Baraonesses and adulterous behaviour are all abound. For my interest Izabela is even reading Zola’s 1877 book ‘Une Page d’Amour’.Ignacy is an intriguing character: his concerns for his country, Wokulski, the wider European view (e.g. England’s war in Afghanistan then later with the Zulus, fondness for the Bonapartes, worries for wider war between Russia and Turkey on one side and England, Germany and Austria on the other etc) are wonderful. The emerging science of the day also plays its part (flying machines, Darwinism, metallurgy) on amateur scientist Wolukski.It has to be said there is quite a lot of the possible impacts and prejudices (discussed between characters etc) of the Jewish population, including their power and money, on the modernising Poland e.g. The nobility, in great debt needing dividends, don’t want Wokulski to sell up his business to a Jewish rival (and the clerks don’t want to work for a Jew – except Ignacy who has a more balanced view) – I found it somewhat chilling to think of this backdrop in 1890 and have references to characters taking train journeys to Krakow etc.So in summary: this is a very long read, the story is definitely there (will she, won’t she), the passion and emotion is there (when will he finally realise what she really is) and the history seeps out of every page. The book is a cross between Eliot’s ‘Middlemarch’, Zola’s ‘Money’ and ‘Ladies Delight’ and Tolstoy’s ‘Resurrection’ serialised to be as long as any Dickens. A very worthy read.Some quotes:(Izabela contemplating marriage) ‘Perhaps even… a husband, for people suffer the most terrible misfortunes. But as a lover – that was simply absurd. If necessary, even the most aristocratic of ladies will take a mud bath; but only a madman would enjoy it’‘She had already almost forgiven him the purchase of the dinner-service and the promissory notes, and the money lost at cards to her father, on which the entire household had lived for several weeks… (no she had not forgiven him that, and never would!)’‘Today’s Hungarians are worth nothing. When the Huns suppressed then in 1849, they protested that every nation has the right to defend its own freedom. But today? They themselves are pushing their way into Bosnia, uninvited, and they call the Bosnians, who are defending themselves, ‘criminals and brigands’.’‘Is it right to equip wretched human hearts with an infinity of yearning, without at least giving them the consolation that death means oblivion?’The Doll( Lalka) is one of the Polish classic. It's a brilliant portray of the 19 centuries Poland, the people and culture. What I like the most about it are the people in this book, how true and real they are, The conversations they have, the ideas and inner live (most of them) they have. For people who don't know Polish history (or indeed know very little about Poland) it could be good way to had quick lesson in both. I just want to correct one reviewer comment's about title- ,,Lalka'' in Polish means Doll- not puppet , so there is no place for interpretation there ( poppet in Polish is- marionetka- with the strings, laka is a doll), and the title ,,Lalka'' talks of Izabela Lecka- nice looking, nice dressed but empty inside, just lkie the doll.Does bring all the tv apps together and is very easy to use.However, the bbc iPlayer did get stuck in a number of episodes of a particular show!interesting view of other times ...a bit long-windedSuperb