[
Choucas: An International Novel]
(1927)
is not one of the best remembered of Nałkowska’s works in Poland today. This may be because its French title is puzzling to readers unfamiliar with that language, prompting some strange pronunciations; or perhaps because it appears less related to Poland itself. Its “international” focus, however, arguably makes it more accessible to readers unfamiliar with Polish history and culture than many other literary works written in Polish. The title refers to the Alpine birds befriended by the novel’s narrator who, like Nałkowska herself in 1925, spends several months in a French-speaking Swiss sanatoria village above Lake Geneva. Here, in the period immediately following the end of World War I, the narrator…
2177 words
Citation: Phillips, Ursula. "Choucas". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 18 March 2018 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=35907, accessed 25 November 2024.]