Traitors and True Poles
Ohio University Press Polish and Polish-American Studies Series
Series Editor: John J. Bukowczyk
Framing the Polish Home: Postwar Cultural Constructions of Hearth, Nation, and Self, edited by Bożena Shallcross
Traitors and True Poles: Narrating a Polish-American Identity, 1880–1939, by Karen Majewski
SERIES ADVISORY BOARD
Stanislaus A. Blejwas (1941–2001), Central Connecticut State University
Robert E. Blobaum, West Virginia University
Anthony Bukoski, University of Wisconsin-Superior
Bogdana Carpenter, University of Michigan
Mary Patrice Erdmans, Central Connecticut State University
Thomas S. Gladsky, Saint Mary’s College of Ave Maria University (ret.)
Padraic Kenney, University of Colorado at Boulder
John J. Kulczycki, University of Illinois at Chicago (ret.)
Ewa Morawska, University of Pennsylvania
Antony Polonsky, Brandeis University
Brian Porter, University of Michigan
James S. Pula, Utica College of Syracuse University
Thaddeus C. Radzilowski, Saint Mary’s College of Ave Maria University
Daniel Stone, University of Winnipeg
Adam Walaszek, Jagiellonian University
Theodore R. Weeks, Southern Illinois University
Traitors and True Poles
Narrating a Polish-American Identity, 1880–1939
Karen Majewski
OHIO UNIVERSITY PRESS
ATHENS
Ohio University Press, Athens, Ohio 45701
© 2003 by Karen Majewski
Printed in the United States of America
All rights reserved
Ohio University Press books are printed on acid-free paper
11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Majewski, Karen.
Traitors and true Poles : narrating a Polish-American identity, 1880–1939 / by Karen Majewski.
p. cm. — (Ohio University Press Polish and Polish-American studies series)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8214-1469-0 (alk. paper) — ISBN 0-8214-1470-4 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. American literature—Polish American authors—History and criticism. 2. Polish Americans—Intellectual life. 3. Polish Americans in literature. 4. Immigrants in literature. I. Title. II. Series.
PS153.P65 M35 2003
810.9'89185—dc21
2002030711
Cover art: From Jak można osięgnąć bogactwo i wpływ w Ameryce (How to acquire money and influence in America) [Toledo: Paryski], 1911.
ISBN 978-0-8214-4111-4 (e-book)
Publication of books in the Polish and Polish-American Studies Series has been made possible in part by the generous support of the following organizations:
Polish American Historical Association, Orchard Lake, Michigan
Stanislaus A. Blejwas Endowed Chair in Polish and Polish American Studies, Central Connecticut State University, New Britain, Connecticut
St. Mary’s College of Ave Maria University, Orchard Lake, Michigan
The Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America, Inc., New York, New York
Additional support for this book has been provided by the Kulczycki Prize awarded by the Polish American Historical Association
To Helena Staś
Contents
INTRODUCTION. Reading the Immigrant
1. Writing Polish: Literature and the Construction of Polishness in America
2. “Blessed Are the Light Bearers”: Polish-American Publishing before World War II
3. Crime, Punishment, Atonement: A Family Plot
4. Crossings and Double-Crossings: Family Ties
5. Power Plays: A Family Squabble
6. Love, Sex, and the State of Marriage: A Family Reunion
EPILOGUE. Continuities: Polish Immigrant Literature Then and Now
PROFILES. Selected Polish Immigrant Authors and Publishers
Bibliographic Essay: Strategies in Recovering Polish Immigrant Writings
Illustrations
CHAPTER 1
The children’s section of a 1910 Polish-American women’s magazine, Ogniwo (The link)
Editorial staff of Chicago’s Głos ludowy
Immigrant socialists in Canada, with author Alfons Staniewski