Born: 30 March 1857, Ukraine
Died: 21 December 1921
Country most active: Poland
Also known as: Maria Gabriela Stefania Korwin-Piotrowska
The following is excerpted from “400 Outstanding Women of the World and the Costumology of Their Time” by Minna Moscherosch Schmidt, published in 1933.
Gabryela Zapolska, the brilliant novelist and dramatist, was born in Lwow in 1880. Her first novel, Malaszha, was written in 1883, and her first play in 1896. Her works are characterized by deep irony and a satirical perception of human frailty. She presents with extreme impartiality the darker side of life, the injustice, crime, stupidity, lack of breeding and education. Through her gift of keen observation, she was able to embody in her writing with great temperament and talent the varied types of people in every walk of life; and in dramatic moments, she possesses an abundance of power and expression. She wrote incomparably when her sympathy was aroused by those sinking under the burdens of life, neglected and imposed upon, and she tore off the mask of hypocrisy and falseness.
Gabryela Zapolska gained renown not only in Poland but in many other countries because of her ability to portray in a highly artistic form those subjects usually so carefully avoided. She was a prolific writer, a collection of her plays being published in 1903 in ten volumes. Among her many novels are: The Threshold of Hell, Menagerte of Humans, Anti-Semite, Diary of a Young Wife, Love for a Season, Bird of Paradise, Things not Spoken Of, Mme, Dulska, etc. With subtle analysis tinged with satire and irony, Zapolska portrayed general types of humanity — good, as well as evil, is fundamentally the same among all peoples. In her unremitting struggle that good might triumph, Zapolska has been true to the ideals of Poland, a nation that, from the beginning of its existence, has never possessed aggressive instincts, but rather has aided other nations; a people that remain true to the age-old Polish motto, “For Our Freedom and Yours.”